Shadows Of The Past
by Anotherjaneway
Summary: Santa Rosa county teaches the crew of 51's a valuable lesson on life. Then it tries to take it away again in the worst manner possible. Vacation spells relaxation for everyone, er...to a point.


This is a text version of the original still airing imaged, music soundtracked story.

Emergency Theater Live, Episode Eleven

11. Shadows Of The Past Season Two- Episode 11 Short summary-  
Santa Rosa county teaches the crew of 51's a valuable lesson on life. Then it tries to take it away again in the worst manner possible. Vacation spells relaxation for everyone, er...to a point.

****WARNING**** The long summary to come is very story spoiling and will take away plot surprises if you read it now before reading the longer story below it.

Decide now if you want to read this episode's detailed summary before doing so.

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Long Summary-  
The gang plans a revisit to the same Santa Rosa County resort town that Roy and Johnny fell in love with a few months earlier. By a lakeshore,  
Mike Stoker's nearly trapped in a satellite outhouse fire. Attracted to the commotion, is a young college aged resort owner who invites them to breakfast up the mountain. Once there, they learn about a feral dog pack problem plaguing the town from their old friend, Sheriff Bittner and from Dr. Frick, the hippy rural doctor from the local clinic. Roy and Johnny rush off to a neighbor's to deliver a baby. At the inn, dogs attack the rest of the gang. Bittner suffers an angina attack. A flash flood reeks havoc on their the way to the hospital with the new mother and child and a mauled boy the doc found. The gang's separated from each other when they're washed away by a rising river. The inn girl struggles to revive the boy's father when he drowns and is herself bitten by a snake. The gang, Sheriff Bittner, and Doc Frick reunite in a thunderstorm and they launch a search for those still missing from their party. They find the inn girl and the boy's father by a sewage plant on the shoreline. In gratitude the townsfolk give the visiting firefighters the best guided fishing tour of their lives.

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The Story Unfolds...

Season Two, Episode Eleven..

Shadows Of The Past Debut Launch: 1 June 2004.

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.com/group/emergencytheaterlive **Theater Writer Site

*Cut and paste any link that is highlight broken into your browser address bar and the link will function.

. **Location to the Complete Current Story

Click the TV set at the top of Emergency Theater Live's homepage to see final music soundtracked, imaged version after entering User ID efan and Password frontrowseat . This version of the current episode is scene delayed as compared to the most recent submissions shown in the text only file below.

. Emergency Theater Live Homepage.

*  
From : Sent : Wednesday, June 2, 2004 11:19 PM Subject : Re: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Episode Eleven Preproduction begins..

As the sun rose over the city of Carson, CA, the 6 men assigned to LACoFD Station 51's A-shift, were already awake, eagerly awaiting the end of their shift. The previous night had been busy, with several MVAs and one particularly nasty warehouse fire that had kept the boys hopping until nearly 2AM. But, in spite of the busy night, none of the men were showing signs of exhaustion. Quite the opposite was true. Captain Hank Stanley, Engineer Michael Stoker, Firefighters Marco Lopez and Chet Kelly, and Paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage were almost buzzing with energy. Today was the start of a long vacation. Ten whole days, and the guys were pumped up with excitement. They had brainstormed and came up with the idea of a camping and fishing trip to the remote, but beautiful area that Roy, John, and Chet had gone to a few months ago: Santa Rose County. Roy, John, and Chet had visited the area and ended up saving a few lives in addition to some great fishing. Everyone had agreed that it sounded like a wonderful idea, even Cap, who hated fish under the best of circumstances.  
"Man, I can hardly WAIT to get a lungful of that clean, mountain air!" said dark-haired paramedic John Gage.  
"Bet it tastes a lot better than the faceful of soot you ate last night, Gage" snickered Chet Kelly, unaffectionately known to his shift-mates as The Phantom.  
"Chet, ANYTHING would taste better than this sludge you call coffee," sniped Gage.  
"Children children, enough bickering," interrupted Cap. "Marco, would you please make some drinkable coffee? I'd like to drive up to Santa Rosa County without falling asleep at the wheel."  
"Sure, Cap," said Marco. "Good thing my culinary skills extend to coffee."  
"Yeah, Marco," said Roy. "Even Henry could make better coffee than Chet."  
Henry looked up at the firemen from his perch on the sofa and yawned, causing Mike Stoker, usually the quietest man on the shift to pipe up, "See!! Even Henry agrees."  
"I don't think regaining consciousness is exactly agreeing, Mike," laughed Johnny.  
"Whether Henry agrees or not, can we at least have breakfast before we start debating?" said Cap.  
With that, Cap got up and walked to the refrigerator and opened it, looking inside to see what he could whip up for a meal. Spying a carton of eggs and a slab of bacon, he pulled them out of the refrigerator, only to bump into Chet Kelly, who was standing right behind him.

CRASH!! The eggs fell to the floor and broke, spreading out in a slimy puddle of yellow, dotted with shell fragments.  
"KELLY!!! Watch where you're standing, you twit!!"

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Photos: None.

*  
From : Maggie H Sent : Thursday, June 3, 2004 1:15 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Shadows of the Past -- scene 2

"Perfection!" breathed Johnny Gage as he slipped down into the camping chair, a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other.

In front of him, the sun was sinking behind the mountains, and the the pale hues in the sky promised a gorgeous sunset in a matter of minutes. Orange and reddish sunlight rippled across the lake. A short distance from the shore, the silhouette of a boat and its two occupants bobbed up and down. Chet and Marco, who had been eager to get out fishing since they'd set off from Roy's house at 9am that morning.

Behind the dark-haired paramedic, laughter echoed from within the long Skyliner camper that the guys had chipped in together to rent for their 10-day excursion. It was parked some 300 feet from the lake shore, and it could provide a fairly comfortable "base camp" for them, as they hiked and explored the area. Heck, it even had a generator that could keep a fresh supply of cool beers on tap for the end of each day. And even six men could comfortably sleep in the huge camper.

*Pretty cool,* thought Johnny as he sighed and watched the sky blaze a dark orange and fiery red.

The sounds of laughter and voices blossomed as the door to the camper opened, and Roy, Mike, and Hank headed out and down to the lake shore. Plopping their chairs down, they settled in next to Johnny.

"Do you think they'll actually catch anything?" mumbled Johnny after a bit. The boat was slowly disappearing into the darkness as the sunset faded into night. A lantern in the boat had illuminated a few minutes previously.

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Photos: None.

From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Friday, June 4, 2004 2:25 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Things That Go Bump In The Night...

"I wouldn't hold it past them.." Roy chuckled matter of factly. "You know, Chet's been working hard at reading all those Outdoor Life magazines. Maybe he's picked up a little from them."

Hank chuckled as he sipped his icy Pabst beer in its plastic cup."I've never seen anyone strike a beeline for a boat faster than him. You hadn't even shut the motor off on Gage's rover here when Kelly and Lopez's rears were on the boat cushions, roaring off into the sunset. I wonder what they're using for bait though. He forgot these.." and his foot kicked the styrofoam container full of swarming leeches.

Johnny grinned, gulping half his beer before he set the rest down in the sand next to his chaise lounge chair. "You're forgetting he's still cringing about ruining breakfast for us this morning by dropping those egg cartons. Chet's never taken the steam that blows out of your ears whenever you're mad very well."

"Really?" Cap wondered, his face suddenly vulnerable with reflection."Do- Do I really have that kind of effect on you guys?"

Immediately, the other three squirmed in their chairs. Mike Stoker took this as an excuse to clear Johnny's empty plate full of fried chicken bones. "Gotta go wash before this crusts over." and he disappeared into the gathering warm darkness.

Gage leaped at the chance, "I'll help."

That left Roy in the hot seat, who bore it bravely.

Around the corner of the camper, out of eye line, Gage and Stoker leaned in to listen to DeSoto's reply like eager playground kids watching a bully go to work.

DeSoto kept sipping his lemon iced tea, considering Cap's question. "It depends..."

At Hank's go on nod, Roy plunged into a man to man analysis.

"At times, let's say the leaning in heavy is fully justified. Especially when you're dishing out the chorelist and the other guys have antsy feet about it. But then there's this morning..." and DeSoto trailed off, waving his dewy drink in significance.

"Roy, I was hungry. We all were. And the stores were all closed because of Memorial Day. Now tell me the honest G*d's truth. Those BLT sandwiches minus the L and the T were disgusting, right?"

"Well..."

"Thought so. Henry seemed to enjoy what was left well enough. But d*mn it, Roy. Dropping those eggs was ...sheer carelessness." his voice rose in passionate ardor. "If he'd been carrying a hose nozzle and clunked it on the ground at a fire scene, a whole lotta guys would be in serious danger for lack of water because of a dented ring!"

"Cap..." Roy informed softly.

"What!?" Hank replied, a little red above his T-shirt.

"We're on vacation..Can you simmer down? I think you're still putting the fear of the All Mighty into them." and he jerked a thumb over his shoulder meaningfully at the invisible Gage and Stoker lingering nearby.

There was a clatter of a tin metal garbage can tipping over noisily as the two with their cover blown made tracks hastily. Gage went inside the camper and Stoker took cover inside the Satellite near the propane gas grill bottles.

"Oh, uh. Right." Cap sputtered, taking a huge gulp of his beer to fortify himself. "Guess I should glance down and take a look at what kinda clothes I'm wearing before I spout off like that. Thanks for reminding me."

Roy glanced at Hank askance. "You needed reminding when you're surrounded by all of this?" he asked in mild surprise.

A sharp piercing call of a Red Tailed Hawk punctuated the air and a wave curled musically up onto the beach from a boat's wake as if on cue after Roy's question.

"Well.. yeah.." Hank said meekly. "Do you remember the last time I went on vacation?"

Roy turned his head and studied Marco and Chet's nodding profiles in the indigo twilight from where they were anchored sixty yards out on the lake. He could just see Kelly fussing with a fly on the end of his line. "Uh.."

"Well, I don't. Emily tells me that I went to Pasadena or something for an expo about the time you showed up at the station..." Cap confided.

"Really?" Roy's head jerked around. "That's ...that's a long time ago.."

"You're darn shootin, it is.. No wonder I'm a little short in the wick department lately. Now perhaps, I'll get a chance to ..." and he sighed expansively, stretching, "..unwind a little." He sat in his beach chair, trying to look at ease, but failed miserably.

"Yeah, well do it soon.." came Gage's voice as he exited the camper in his swim trucks. "We're all tired of hearing you pop your relief valve at every stupid tiny thing that happens." he counseled gently. "Watch me, Roy. I'm going kinda far out. The water's cooler out there."

"Ok.."

Gage dove neatly into the lake and swam deliberately away from Chet and Marco's fishing boat.

"Maybe I should go for a swim.." Cap considered.

"I can only watch one of ya at a time.." Roy replied. "Besides, maybe you shouldn't go in just yet. Four beers might cause a few problems."

Cap slumped back in his chair, and looked at the finger full left in his glass. It had gone warm in his hand. He poured it out onto the beach in an out of the way spot and asked. "Is that Lipton stuff any good?"

Roy's nose wrinkled just then. "Do you smell something, Cap?"

Hank's long proboscis lifted and his nostrils flared. "Am I hallucinating? That smells like.."

"Heyyy!!"

Both men turned out to see Chet and Marco flailing from the boat, and their motor kicked in immediately back towards the shoreline right at them.

Roy and Cap didn't understand what Chet and Lopez were pointing at.

"Behind you!" Marco shouted over the boat motor's roar.

"Geez, turn around you guys! There's trouble!" Kelly yelled in frustration.

Roy and Cap finally got the message. They turned around and looked back towards the camper parked underneath the swaying birch trees.

The biff was on fire.

"Ohmyg*d. Mike's in there..isn't he?" Cap asked.

"Stoker!" DeSoto called out, rushing forward. He paused only long enough to grab the fire extinguisher that was clipped to the camper's trailer frame between it and Johnny's rover. "Hey, answer me!"

"What are you guys waiting for?!" came Johnny's yell and his water slicked slender body booked high speed for the burning outhouse. He stumbled only once over the rocks where the beach ended and the forest began. "Just tip it over and he can get out that way.."

The three firemen were quickly joined by the other two and in a flurry of shouts and hissing fire repellent and brute strength, they broke the satellite's concrete clamps enough to create a gap near the ground large enough for a coughing Mike Stoker to crawl out.

Marco and Johnny dragged him away by the pants butt and got him to his feet. "Whew..do you smell... are you ok?" Gage asked him.

Mike leaned over and spat stench out of his mouth and coughed. "Yeah, I'm fine.. How did that get started?"

Roy stopped spraying the ABC extinguisher on some wires he had found touching the fiberglass shell of the biff. "I believe here's the problem. Some of this insulated wire on this timer valve's been worn bare."

"You mean I almost fried with my shorts down because of a faulty propane tank regulator?" Mike said, still worked up a little.

"Yep." Roy shrugged.

"Why.... I....Oooo..!" Stoker sputtered.

"Stoker... Easy, pal.." Cap soothed, taking his engineer by the shoulders briefly before thinking better of it because of his odiferous bouquet. "You gotta learn how to unwind a little.. Here, have my beer."

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Photo : Stoker making fried chicken.

Photo: Cap confiding in Roy.

Photo: An outhouse on fire.

Photo: A Pabst blue ribbon beer can.

*  
From : Jeff Seltun Sent : Wednesday, June 16, 2004 10:11 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Night Visitors

There was a commotion in the darkness.  
A rustling sound, from the woods. All six firemen turned to face it.

It was a woman, her page style hair dishevelled from a panicked run, that came dashing from the deeper shadows into the campfire light. She was dragging behind her a running hose they recognized from the fishhouse. "Oh, my gosh. Oh my gosh.. Are you guys all right?!"

The gang's eyes oggled for the young woman was very pretty for her age of twenty or so years. Roy and Cap immediately became politely discreet, for the young gal was in a very short mini skirt and western blouse. Mike Stoker finally jerked his head stupidly, answering their surprise visitor.  
"I'm fine. Not even singed."

The girl didn't stop and kept on rushing past the stunned men. "Good. Here, let me wash down these sparks still smouldering on the grass. Oh, I've got to hurry.. I don't want Beauford, he's the fire spotter across the lake, to see this. Knowing him, he'll raise holy Caine for sure if he sees a glow not inside a fire ring on the beach. He'll call in every fire station in the county for no good reason at all and having the campground crawling with firefighters in the middle of the night is the last thing I need the sheriff finding out about." she blithered. "I'm sick to death of dealing with fire boys. I've seen far too many of them this summer as it is on my resort's land. "

The gang from 51's shared looks of irony about the firefighter comment. Then Captain Stanley took a step forward. "Uh,," and he cleared his throat. "..thank you Miss,  
for the water. Here, let my friend Mike Stoker here finish that hose soaking while you sit down and take a breather. You look like you're about to fall over. My friend Roy's got some iced tea chilling on the table over there. Help yourself. Please. You look like you could really use some. I'm Hank Stanley by the way."

The panting woman gave one last worried glance at the smoking outhouse and back once more at the far shore of the quiet lake before she accepted Hank's offer of a lawn chair. "Nicola Sommers. Charmed. Thanks." she sighed, dropping into the chair with a healthy collapse and sprawled into an undisquised state of sweaty exhaustion. She wiped some dirt off her upper lip, while her other hand snatched the ice tea tumbler Cap had offered to her from the picnic table. "Cheers. " And she downed Roy's whole glass of Lipton Lemon Twist as rapidly as she could.

The guys watched her every swallow. Especially Chet Kelly.

The charming Nicola was oblivious. Then her head whipped around to look back at the hose dousing Stoker was just finishing up. "Look, are you sure he knows what he's doing? Embers under all this meadow grass can smoulder for hours.."

Johnny Gage came up aces.. "Stoker's a real pro, Ms. Sommers. You can kinda say that he ..uh....plays with water for a living... In fact, we all do.."

Marco smacked Johnny on the arm and he hissed under his breath so only Gage could hear. "Don't spill the beans that we're firemen. We might lose her as some real good company."

Chet Kelly covered for Lopez's mumble loudly, covering it up. "Nicola, did you come from the cottage house perched all the way up there on the ridge?"

"Yeah. I had to. Luke, my bassett hound, starting carrying on something fierce and that usually means trouble on the beach so I started running when I saw the fire starting up."

"Wow, you made it down here to the lake in record time. You sure are in incredible shape.." Kelly continued and his eyes flickered downwards the length of her body, admiring her black leather boots to go along with the rest of her. Gage smacked Kelly discreetly on the back of the head for his indiscretion.

"Ow..." Chet complained, glancing back at Gage.

"Ow what?" Nicola said, oblivious to the exchange. She looked up from the empty ice tea glass she was returning to the table.

"Mosquitoes.." Gage supplied.  
"Nothing." Chet said simultaneously.

They immediately reversed a verbal tumble.  
"Yeah, d*mned bugs." Kelly burbled.  
"He's sore from fishing." Gage admitted at the same time.

::Uh oh..:: they both thought. ::We're caught for sure.::

Cap and the other guys froze like spotlighted deer,  
waiting for a defensive reaction.

But the young woman sitting across from them just smiled sweetly and pushed out her bottom lip in acquiesence.  
"Happens to the best of folks..." Nicola agreed, leaning back and breathing expansively of the pine scented night air to begin cooling herself further. "Especially city folks like yourselves. My guess is that you're all from L.A. or very close there abouts."

Gage was surprised. Smart chicks really threatened him,  
and his question popped out before he could wrest it back inside of his mouth. "How'd you know that we were from Los Angeles?"

Ms. Sommers tossed her head at the Rover still hitched to the rental camper. "Only city cars are stained that dark from smog dust. And the only city that's so smoggy this time of year is L.A. I spotted your rover and camper this afternoon when you drove by my house on the way to the lake access road..." Her eyes twinkled as she added more. "I wouldn't speed so fast next time.  
Sheriff Bittner's new deputy is always on the lookout for new out of towners to ticket."

"We'll keep your advice in mind. Had enough?"  
Hank asked about Nicola's drink.

"I'm topped off. Thanks. That was really good."  
Nicola tilted her dainty chin and high arched cheekbones delicately in challenge. "I'm the caretaker of that resort you can see up there on the ridge. It's got seven cabins and a pine log lodge and a trading post.  
I sort of inherited it from my step father when he died earlier this past winter. "

"I'm sorry to hear about that, Ms. Sommers. " Roy mentioned politely.

Nicola rubbed her nose absently.  
"It's ok. We hardly got along as it was. It was just the two of us for a long time. And it's taking a while to get the hang of running the whole business. Foreign investors keep stopping by saying they'll buy my land and everything on it to save me some grief but the sheriff says that I shouldn't sell. I ..quite frankly, I'm growing to love it up here. Almost as much as the sheriff does...

Say,.. what made you guys choose Santa Rosa County Park for a vacation hot spot? Can't say much about attractions around here. Except our sunsets, which are made to absolutely die for." Nicola laughed.

Hank laughed. "Sheriff Bittner recommended this campsite.  
Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto over there .." the two paramedics waved,  
grinning in the fire glow as they were introduced, "...went fishing with him last year after an adventure or two while working with him and fell in love with the place. Myself and Chet Kelly, Marco Lopez, and the man you already met watering the grass over there, just had to see what was so magical about Santa Rosa County, this year."

"Well, glad to make your aquaintance gentlemen." Nicola said, getting up and shaking their hands one by one in greeting.  
"Thanks for the tea, Mr. DeSoto. Lipton's my all time favorite."  
She brushed some weeds and burrs out of her skirt. "Well,  
I think I'll be heading back since everything down here is a. o. k. " and she folded up her lawn chair.

The gang immediately rose to their feet.

Hank said, "It's almost completely dark now. Are you sure it's safe to wander around the woods at night? We'd- We'd be happy to offer you one of our tents to crash in until morning.. See?  
Chet Kelly's got one already set up over there.." and he pointed.

"Oh, yeah. My sleeping bag's real warm." Kelly nodded.

Nicola's askance look at Chet's school boy oggling of her unique attire made her raise her eyebrows and that gave the gang her unspoken answer to the offer.

Marco piped up. "Don't worry about Kelly here, Nicola. We were just being neighborly. Helping folks comes naturally to us. Part of our jobs you could say. He didn't mean anything by that."

"Yeah, Kelly usually puts his foot in his mouth at least once during the day. Only now, he's on vacation and had to wait until now before he embarrassed us all by doing it again." Gage said, with a glare at Kelly.

Nicola was not offended. In fact, in the rising moonlight, she smiled, still at ease.

Right then, an unearthly set of howls in the distance made the whole gang start. Chet actually took a few steps closer to the camp fire.

"And there you have why the campsite has up the no tents restriction sign this week. Guys, I'm suggesting strongly to you that you all sleep in the camper at night." Nicola said, pointing toward the park's roofed regulations board. "The ranger put up that new notice about two hours before you got here."

"Wh--What was that? Wolves?" Chet shivered.

"Something like them I suspect." Nicola said. "As long as you stay by the lake and keep a fire up or stick inside your camper when it's dark, you'll stay safe and sound. The sheriff and I have been working on this little unwelcome wildlife problem for three weeks now. It's just a matter of time before we find them all."

The gang was too busy getting serious chills over the eerie howling chorus bellowing at the moon to ask Ms. Sommers any more questions. Even Hank Stanley was mute and listening.

Nicola was getting her jollies over the city folks cowering at the night woods. "See ya fellas. Have a nice vacation.." And Nicola strode into the night pine forest cheerfully.

But, just before she vanished out of the fire's light, she turned and shouted back at them, feeling guilty about getting enjoyment out of their discomforture. "Tell you what? If you're too afraid to cook supper, eat light of sandwiches or something for tonight and then come hike up to my cottage tomorrow morning.  
I'll put on a hearty breakfast for all of ya.. I'm turning the lodge into a bed and breakfast inn. Sheriff Bittner says it's a concept that's all the latest rage in the North. You fellas can be my first customers to try out my new menu. On the house."

The gang nodded warmly and waved, saying that they'd be there by first light.

Nicola was hardly gone a minute when the six of them fearfully ran into the camper and slammed the door shut behind themselves.

The morning couldn't come fast enough for the gang of 51's.

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"Say, this is gonna be a real swell inn, Ms. Sommers."  
said Chet Kelly as he stuffed another poppy seed roll into his mouth. "I mean, you got moose antlers on the walls and everything.." he admired. Then his head nearly split in two with a monstrous yawn that drowned out another compliment.

Nicola chuckled. "Somebody didn't sleep well last night.  
Not used to roughing it, Mr. Kelly?"

"I slept just fine.." Chet said with a frown. "That's only after those wild animals finally quit yapping at the moon around four a.m."

Nicola whipped off her flour dusted apron and sat down to join the gang eating. "The sheriff and I are going out this afternoon to deal with those creatures. Don't you worry.  
He's coming right after breakfast and we're going hunting."

"Is it the season for that?" Mike Stoker asked, chewing on a ripe strawberry.

"It is when two town kids get ambushed walking in to school from the outskirts and can't give a clear description of what kind of animals attacked them." Nicola said. "I'll be glad to see them gone."

Johnny Gage took a sip of his black coffee. "Were they hurt bad?" he said, remember the tiny doctor's office that he and Roy had used for their injured the last time they were passing through Santa Rosa County. "Was the doc in to treat them?"

Nicola showed some surprise. "You know the doc?"

"Sure do." Roy said, wiping a milk moustache off as he pushed his empty plate away. "We ran into him helping a few climbers,  
and folks from an auto wreck and then two more from a fishing mishap. We met up Doc Frick three times in the same day."

Nicola set down her fork and stopped chewing. "Oh,.. so you're the fire department boys Bittner keeps on talking about over chili at Rosie's Bar. He's still all hot to trot about that para.. para medical operation he wants to set up between the area ranchers."

Johnny lifted a hand, pointing. "You mean he was serious about what we told him last year? Roy and I thought he was just humoring us because we didn't get in any decent time to fish like we had planned on doing."

"Sure the sheriff was serious. Dead serious. I was even in the first responder program for a few months. That is, until my step father died. After that, I kinda got too busy to worry about that kind of thing with running the resort and working on this new bed and breakfast business idea." Nicola said. "And I had to forget all about that to concentrate on myself."

"Too bad. Santa Rosa could use more than just a few first aid trained people." Johnny said. "I'm sure the doc would love to have all the help he can get."

"Nice try recruiting me back into the fold, Mr. Gage. But I have to think about floating my resort and lodge first,  
my college major second, before I even think about doing anything fancy like volunteering in any spanking brand new rescue program. No matter how good it is for the community. Learning how to stick a few bandaids on people isn't going to pay my bills any or my tuition. " she nodded empathetically. Then she thought better of her distain to her guests and leaned in closer.  
"Sorry. You know, about last night. You didn't have to hide the fact that all you were in the fire department business guys. I knew that the moment I laid eyes on your fishing boat moored on the beach."

"Uh oh, more detective insights.." Kelly groaned teasingly light.

Nicola's eyes sparkled in a laughing smile.  
"Yep. Locals don't include fire extinguishers and first aid kits as part of their fishing tackle's staple gear."

Johnny nearly spit out his orange juice. "Just by that?"

Nicola waved an absent hand, smiling. "That and the way your friend Mike Stoker over here snuffed out those embers. He used a fanning spray and not the end of a hose's stream like anyone else might do. Training tells, guys.."

"I'm seriously glad for that, Ms. Sommers. Being their captain,  
I'd be sorely disappointed if it didn't." Hank snorted.

Right then, the screen door opened and Sheriff Bittner,  
the familar personality that Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage knew so well, entered the sunlit dining hall.

Everyone got to their feet to greet him.

But the rosy cheeked sheriff wasn't smiling. He opened his mouth and said...

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Photo : A page haired woman in western clothes.

Photo: Half the gang sitting in chairs.

Photo: The other half of the gang sitting in chairs.

Photo: Animated howling wolf at the moon.

Photo: Sheriff Bittner talking with Johnny and Roy.

Photo: A full rural bed and breakfast dinner spread.

***************************************************************

From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 21:14:31 +0000 Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Frick Frets And What Every Mother Gets..

"Nicola! Let me in to use your phone!" Blaine sputtered,  
ignoring who was around him and barging past through the cottage's dining hall and into the parlor where he knew an antique phone rested on a table.

"What?" Ms. Sommers ejected. "What's wrong,  
Blaine? Another attack from those--"

"Nope. But just as bad little Missy. It's Mrs. Caine.  
She's hard up in labor at Ender's Pass and I can't raise Doc Frick on the radio. I got his gear from town,  
he said he'd meet me, but that was a half an hour ago."  
he said loudly, picking up the phone's brass receiver. He bellowed to the switch board operator to try Dr. Frick's office one more time. ".....and don't dawdle, Mable!" he told her. "You know how fast Mary's kids come when it's their time."

All the guys listened with interest, keeping quiet, learning more. Then Hank Stanley spoke up, gripping the chubby law man's shoulder, getting his attention. "Sheriff,  
can we help at all? My men and I are Los Angeles County Fire Fighters and I believe you already know my paramedics,  
here. This is Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage."

Blaine Bittner blinked and did a double take, throwing down the chattering panicking operator on the phone when he heard yet again that there was still no answer at Dr. Frick's clinic. "Why land sakes alive, I do believe my prayers have been answered.." the sheriff. "Hiya boys." He said to Roy and Johnny. "It's nice ta see ya again. You've been missed. Can't you tell?" and he held up the now dead phone. "Let's go.  
I can use all the help I can get." and he bolted out of the door, slamming the cottage's screen door shut in Cap's face in his hurry to get on with his emergency call. "Mary sounded like she was screaming to high heavens. Nearly frightened old Mable half to death when she called."

Chet said, "I'll go grab the Rover, Cap. We can all go."

Gage grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.  
Cap, we can't just go rushing off to ..to.. see this woman. We'll have the same problem we had last time and not be certified at all to work in this county as paramedics enough to treat her. "

Marco piped up. "You heard the Sheriff, Johnny. Didn't he say that Ol Doc Frick's on his way to this lady's house, too? He said that he had the doc's medical gear in his car.."

"Yeah," said Mike Stoker. "And that means, he can be your doctor once he gets there. We can just be first responders and have things set up for him ahead of time."

"End of discussion, Gage. Move.." Hank crooked a thumb towards the door.

The gang piled out onto the porch only to see a great big cloud of dust the sheriff's car had left behind in his haste to get to Ender's Pass. His speeding vehicle up the interstate was nowhere to be seen.

"Uhh,, " Roy said, scratching his chin. "Ms. Sommers,"  
he asked Nicola, "You wouldn't happen to know where Mrs. Caine lives, do you?"

"I sure do. I visited her a couple of days after her little boy was attacked in the schoolyard." Nicola said. "I know the way to her place really well."

Before anyone could ask. Kelly took off running.  
"Wait right there. I'll have the rover unhitched and up here faster than you can count to twenty!"

The whole gang heard him break branches noisily as he tore down the path back to the lakeside camp ground,  
cutting corners through the hairpin red dirt turns weaving into the valley.

"Easy Chet! Don't break a leg ! Stick to the trail!" Cap hollered after him. "Man, if we haveta haul his butt out of a ditch somewhere, I'm gonna be really mad." he said, huffing out his air in frustration when the commotion in the pines didn't let up as Chet made his way downhill.

Roy snapped his fingers. "Say, maybe we can call Mrs. Caine. See how she's doing. I'm assuming there's a telephone in her bedroom, right?"

Nicola said. "Of course, that's probably how she called the sheriff in the first place. I don't see her making it to the hobby shed's short wave radio in her condition.."

Johnny Gage went all analytical. "So she's close to full term?"

"Very.." Nicola said rolling her eyes.

"How many children has Mrs. Caine had before now?"  
Roy asked as they all piled back into the picturesque little country cottage.

"Uh,,, two, I think." Ms Sommers said. "She had Jeremy.. the little boy I met last week in the hospital, and I remember her mentioning that she had to go to town to get some new shoes for an older daughter. "

Gage sighed, looking at his watch. "That doesn't leave much time left.."

Nicola was puzzled. "How do you mean, Mr. Gage?"

"A third baby coming to the same mother usually doesn't wait that long before coming out and surprising everybody."

Nicola's eyes got real big. "Oh..." she said, the concept dawning."Well, how long do we have?"

"Anywhere from a couple of hours.." Roy began..

"To a couple of minutes.." Johnny completed.

"Well, why didn't you guys go after Chet to get to your car?" Nicola said, her voice rising.

"Calm down. Chet's real speedy. He knows we have to stay here to call Mrs. Caine.. to see how thing's are progressing." Roy said.

"Roy?" Cap asked.

"Yeah?"

"We'll wait for you outside. We gotta glean some directions out of Ms. Sommers here."  
he said taking the chatting woman's arm as she kept asking questions and giving opinions about how worried she was about the current emergency.

He picked up the receiver and dialed out 0 for the operator. He immediately got a still flustered Mable who talked his ear off. "Maam, I don't know yet. Yes, I'm a stranger ....a paramedic from Los Angeles County. The sheriff..."he broke off when the operator's yammering got really loud and frantic. "...maam, yes...I understand the need for urgency. So if you could just..connect me up to Mrs. Caine we can get things going here, all right?"

Soon, DeSoto's face fell into one of relief when the phone against his burning ear fell into person to person ringing.

Right then a crack of lightning came from the mountains and the sun disappeared.

"Wow, storm's brewing.." Lopez said.

"Yeah, they come up real fast." Johnny said to him. "Well, a little rain never hurt anybody. And Mrs. Caine's inside a nice warm snug house."  
he grinned.

The guys leaped back for the porch overhang when a strong bank of rain suddenly whipped out of the sky and wet the sandy ground in a torrential sheet.

"Good thing I got radials on the rover.." Johnny grinned toothily. "We'll get there in no time."

Roy came out of the house. "Well, she says her contractions are about three minutes apart. She says she's not bleeding at all or anything like that. But she says something doesn't feel right inside and she's straining."

Gage grew concerned and his voice matched it.  
"You told her not to push, didn't ya?"

"Yeah. I told her. And I told her the sheriff and the doc, and us, are on the way to her."

Nicola had calmed down, a good rain soaking having helped with that. "Who's with her?"

"Nobody.. That's why she called the emergency operator instead of her midwife or husband. He's in town at the hospital with the older daughter, looking after little Jeremy."  
DeSoto replied. "Mrs. Caine said that Mr. Caine will be real disappointed if he misses the birth of their third child."

"So will we, Roy, if Chet doesn't hurry it up." Gage quipped.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gage insisted on driving his own vehicle after the six of them, plus Nicola, crammed aboard and they roared in a raging downpour to Ender's Pass and up the ranch road leading to Mrs. Caine's house.

There was the sheriff's car. But no red station wagon belonging to Doc Frick.

"Ok, everyone. Pile out. Let Roy get out first." Johnny said as everyone jumbled arms legs and torsos around to free up the paramedic from the land rover.

Johnny got out next, not bothering to set a park brake and hurried over to Bittner's squad car to see if the man had remembered to take in Doc Frick's obstetric gear or not. He had. "Nice.. Guys, let's go. It's all inside."

The five dripping firefighters in summer wear piled into the warm ranchhouse after Gage.

Roy was already taking a respiration count on Mary and she was set on O2, high flow. "Hi fellas, meet Mrs. Caine. She's having a little trouble breathing but her pulse's good. I haven't done much else yet,  
Johnny."

"Hi..boys.. OhhhhHHHHHH! Make it stop!" said the red haired Mary Caine, sweating and writhing on the bed.  
"My first boy and girl never hurt this bad.. Mr. DeSoto, tell me, what's wrong with my baby?" she gasped.

"We'll know soon. Just try and pant short breaths under that oxygen around the contractions. Don't bear down and we'll get thing's set up to find out,  
ok.."

"S...sure..." she panted. But soon, another rippling screech parted her lips a lot sooner than the original three minutes projected by phone earlier.

"Uh,...the three of you can wait outside.." said Cap and he shoo'd the others out of the room, leaving himself to help Johnny and Roy. He spread out the medical gear they looked like they needed. ::Santa Rosa township may have a small town clinic and a hippy for a doctor, but their emergency medical gear's top notch. :: he thought.

Gage dragged out the neonate resuscitation gear and gloved up.  
"Mrs. Caine. I'm gonna haveta check you out, ok?  
I'm Roy's partner, Johnny Gage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department."

The heavily laboring woman just nodded her head, beyond any shred of modesty, deep in her pain, "I know.  
I ...don't care. Just help me.. Please.. I'm scared for the baby.."

Johnny draped sheeting around Mrs. Caine's knees from the O.B. kit Cap handed him and he lowered the bed's blanket to help get her into a delivery position with himself sitting her up under the arm pits and Roy supporting her knees until she was comfortable.

Cap continued to spread sterile sheets from the doctor's kits around the foot of the bed. He helped Roy into a pair of gloves when Roy's hands, damp from stroking Mary's hair, made it hard to do solo.

"Johnny, I got a rate of 134 on Mary. Respirations are 26 and short. Contractions are full duration every minute now."  
Roy said calmly, keeping a tight hold around Mrs. Caine's shoulders. "Cap, take my spot." he said.

Hank did so, adding his quiet reassurances. "I'm a father,  
so I know what to expect from a mother with the baby on the way. Don't worry about breaking my hand squeezing it. I'm immune."

Mary laughed, blowing out her air in a wavery attempt to smile.  
But just as fast. She sucked it up again. "Oh, the baby's coming!"

"Don't push.. Don't push...!" ordered Johnny from Mary's knees.  
"Roy, I can't see the baby's head. Only part of the cord,  
preceding it." he frowned.

"Prolapse?"

"Yeah... Definitely that."

Roy and Johnny kept the bad discovery from showing on their faces. "Ok. Cap, get those pillows under her hips. We have to raise her pelvis higher than her head."

"You got it." And he helped Roy accomplish it.

Meanwhile, Johnny was telling Mary what was happening.  
"Mrs. Caine. Mrs. you hear me? Now, the baby's getting a little over eager right now trying to be born. The cord's been pushed out first. That's probably what you were feeling earlier.."

"oh, NnnOooo. How's the baby? Is my baby still alive?"

Johnny gently placed a glove on the shimmering purple,  
white and pink cord showing outside and felt no pulsations.  
"Mary, I'm gonna see. Now you'll feel a bit of pressure here. I'm just gonna check the baby's pulse a bit." he said loudly,  
over Mary's moans. Quieter, he added. "Roy get me an O2 line, I'll get an airspace down to the baby's nose and mouth."  
And he reached inside the birth canal until he felt the curvature of the still baby's nose and mouth between his middle and index fingers. He lifted the baby's head and immediately, the cord draping across his wrist began to pulsate. "Mary,.. Mary,.. listen to me. The baby's fine. I can feel a good pulse. But you can't push and you can't move around any. I'm keeping the cord from being crimped off until the doc gets here. Ok.?" Johnny grunted, sweating.

Mary began sobbing and her eyes suddenly drifted shut and her breathing silenced. DeSoto grabbed the base of her throat. "She's ok. Just fainted. Carotid's still around 120." and he tightened the oxygen mask a little more snuggly around Mrs. Caine's pale face.  
"I'll get a new BP on her and a heart rate on the baby.."  
he said putting a stethoscope into his ears.

From somewhere muffled, a telephone in the house rang. And shortly there after, from the phone next to the bed. No one had hands free to answer it.

But on the second ring. Someone else in the house did.

Second snicked by and Cap swallowed, still clutching the adult ambu bag he had gotten out from the doc's jumpbag when the mother blacked out.

Roy smiled. "No problems here. The baby's rate is 148. And her pressure's 110/74. No shock for either one of them yet."

All three firefighters sighed and Hank sat back down by Mary's head to test her consciousness.  
"Mary, can you hear me?" He pinched her arm and got a weak half groan back in response.

Roy nodded in thanks for Hank's check as he placed the delivery syringe bulb near Johnny's free hand where he could reach for it if fluid pooled over the baby's face. "Any meconium?"

Johnny spoke around the tube in his mouth.  
"Not a whole lot. Her amnionic fluid's still fairly clear." Gage admitted, straining against Mary's muscles to keep the passage open to the air for the baby. He had the O2 line in his teeth,  
blowing its oxygen stream towards the opening he had created in Mary's birth canal. "I'm feeling hiccups.  
I think the baby's trying to breathe in there."

"Is that working?" DeSoto asked about Johnny's hold and oxygen.

Right then, Mary began to mumble words and feel her painful contractions again.

"Yeah. ..Hey Mary, wake up. Your baby's doing the Twist in here. A real dancer.." Gage mumbled.

"That's my girl...." Mary smiled groggily,.."Or boy... OwwWWWWW." and her muscles jolted in a tight contraction that she couldn't control.

Johnny felt the space between his fingers and the baby, close off. The cord went limp and white.  
"Mary.. Mary.. Don't! Quit pushing. The cord's blocking off!"

But Mary was beyond caring in her faint, lost in her body's reaction. Cap took control of her head as she blacked out again, pulling her chin back so she could keep breathing well.

Johnny tried desperately to regain an open path but failed. He withdrew his hand and stood,  
lifting Mary's hips higher onto the pillows. He began pushing on Mary's lower abdomen gently, firmly around the contraction, until he felt the baby internally slide backwards through Mary's skin.

The pulse returned into the loop of birthing cord that he could see.

He peeled off his now dirty gloves and put on another sterile pair before he reached in and regained a hasty path to the outside for the baby to breathe in. He no longer felt the tiny hiccups in the baby's neck. "Baby's quieter Roy. No movement. But the cord pulse's back."

He nodded getting a new BP on Mary.  
"It's down. 90/52. Something's changing."

"Not from here. There's still no blood."

Right then the Sheriff burst through the door with Nicola, peeking his head through. "I was in the kitchen. That was the Doc. He's on his way." He paled when he saw Mary lying so silent with sweat covering her features.

"How far away?" Johnny grunted, keeping the tenuous length of space over the cord so it wouldn't be sealed off again.

"Stephen's Road." Bittner mumbled, staring in shock.

"That's two minutes away.." Nicola added, her sculpted face equally stunned as Blaine's. "Oh, and I forgot to tell you, Mary's a diabetic.."

"What?!" Gage said, glancing up at Sommers sharply.

Roy and Johnny and Cap saw a pair of hands drag the two speechless Santa Rosa citizens back out of the bedroom and the door quickly closed shut again.

::That's a little medical history a little too late. Good riddance.  
Last thing we need is another pair of fainters. Thank you Marco, Mike and Chet.:: Gage thought. "Smell anything on her, Cap?  
Any ketosis?"

Hank bent low, lifting the moaning mother's 02 mask and he sniffed lightly. "No.. her breath's not sweet."

"Hypoglycemia?" Johnny said looking at Roy.

"Most likely."DeSoto said, looking at Mary's eyes under a penlight."She's working pretty hard here."

"Yeah, and she's too out to give her any oral glucose paste. Where's the Doc when you need him?" Gage said sarcastically, eyeing up all the IV bags and needles that they presently didn't have the authorization to use.

Roy's hand reached for a bag of Ringer's and tubing, and a glucagon syringe.

"Roy, don't. We can't.. Not yet.."

DeSoto had almost touched them when the bedroom door flew open to reveal Doctor Frick himself, covered in blood.

Roy snatched up the bags in a quick report. "Diabetic.  
Prolapse on the baby. Fetal heartbeat's up to 170. Hers is at 140. Real tachy. Her LOC's dropped 4 Glasgow points and the baby's quit moving.. What happened to you?"  
he added, eyeing up the doc's soiled sweatshirt.

Dr. Frick said."IV Ringer's one arm TKO. 500 ml of an IV D5W on the other at 200 mls an hour and give her all of that glucagon in a push. Another little boy got worked over by the pack of feral dogs Nicola and the Sheriff have been trying to hunt down.  
He's gonna live. I got him in the living room being watched by your firefighter friends out there on an oxygen tank."

"Feral dogs?" Cap asked. "Is that what we were hearing last night?" he asked in horror.

"Yes. We've been hearing them every night." Doc Frick said gloving up rapidly and he kneeled next to Johnny.  
"What do you got?" the long haired hippy like moustached doctor asked Gage.

"Prolapse, four minutes old. Lost a pulse in the cord once. Felt the baby attempt respirations but now I can't feel anything. Not one twitch since that happened about two minutes ago."

"All right. Getting tired? We can trade off. You can hand me supplies as I need them." said Frick.

Johnny unencumbered and stood back, peeling off his body fluid slick gloves and trading them for a third clean pair.

"Ok,.. Both IV's and the glucagon is in, doc.  
I've marked down the time and rate on the bags" Roy said.

"She's an insulin dependent diabetic, fellas.  
Most likely, she skipped lunch for being excited about this being another birthday. That injection and the IV's will bring her around shortly."  
The doc took his place maintaining the baby's birth canal and cord integrity. Then he reached in more fingers. "Got the baby's chin." and he reached in a tip of a pinky into the baby's mouth. Immediately,  
he felt sucking. A huge smile erupted from his face.  
"We got ourselves a fighter! Roy, get a new fetal heart rate for me, would you?"

From the bed came.. "A fighter?. " said Mrs. Caine weakily as she recovered from her blackout. "I thought you said my baby was a dancer.." she smiled..

"Yeah well one's just as good as the other.."  
Johnny smiled right back at her. "Feel like some pushing? The doc's here."

"Oh, is he?" Mary asked around Cap's hands cradling her face to help her breathe easier.  
"Anytime. I wanna surprise Jack when he gets.  
owwWWW."

Roy announced. "Doc, the rate's 220 on the baby." he said urgently.

"Here we go.." Doc Frick said, gently pulling as the baby's head advanced, until it had emerged into the open to the neck. Johnny rapidly suctioned out the tiny baby's nose and mouth with the bulb.

The doc pulled another loop of cord he discovered from around the baby's neck with a couple of fingers. He frowned when he didn't find it beating.

"Roy, there's nothing now." he whispered without sound about a pulse rate. Then aloud he said.  
"Mary..pant now and don't push anymore.. We have to let the baby's head rotate around for delivery. Won't take long."

"....*gasp*...kay.. Just say ......when.." she groaned.

A minute went by before another powerful contraction spun Mary's child into the proper position. Frick's eyes jerked over to the resuscitation gear and then at Roy in a subtle hint to get ready for some new trouble.

DeSoto rose and got things ready.

The baby's face had turned blue.

"Ok, Mary. Push.. Push as hard as you can!" Frick urged. Cap let Mrs. Caine use his chest as a support and he held her up as she strained one last time in a supreme effort to finish the job.

The baby's shoulders came easily with a lift and shove from side to side by the doctor. The baby's limp body slid out of Mary in a rush of fluid onto the bed. "It's a boy Mary! Nice job.." Johnny said, forcing a smile onto his face.

"How is he?" she panted. "Can I see him?" she said through her O2 mask as Cap eased her back down onto her back.

Again there was more suctioning. Gage quickly threaded in an infant airway as Roy attached a neonate ambu bag to the end of it. They both clamped off the cord with two clips as the doc checked for a baby's pulse quickly with a stethoscope.

"Got one." Frick said at last.  
"He needs only those vents. Turn the O2 to 100%  
and hyperventilate him until he pinks up Roy. I think your son only needs a little brisk encouragement, Mrs. Caine.  
Give us a minute to cut the cord." Frick said."What's your new son's name gonna be, Mary?"

"Darren. Darren Joseph Caine." she sighed.

"That's a wonderful name. Same first name as my grandfather's."  
he said, snipping the cord in two between the clamps. "Now, how are you feeling? Your blood sugar got a little low there at the end."

"Perfect.." Mary said muzzily, drifting into a happy sleep.

"Well so is he..." Hank grinned. "He's got all his fingers and toes so rest easy. We'll stay to watch over you until the ambulance arrives."

Tiny puffs of Roy's pure oxygen into Darren's lungs from the ambu finally drove away the deep blue from the baby's face, trunk and limbs. He actively began to thrash his arms and legs, gurgling, entirely flushed a healthy reddish pink.

Doc Frick tugged out the airway and drained Darren's lungs of their remaining fluids. Soon, the baby's back was slapped as he hung by the ankles and that brought a thin powerful cry out the gaping mouth. "That's more like it. Apgar 2 to a 10. Welcome to Santa Rosa County, Darren Joseph."

And the baby wailed anew when a great peal of thunder crashed just outside the Caine house as he was laid across his mother's breast in a cocoon of warm white blankets.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo : A birth fresh baby, still coated.

Photo: A passed out pregnant mother being tended.

Photo: Roy and Johnny delivering a child.

Photo: New baby on mom's chest.

*  
From : patti keiper Sent : Saturday, June 26, 2004 2:17 AM Subject : Guess Who's Coming For Dinner?

Sheriff Bittner was on the phone again, trying to get an ETA of the ambulance long overdue to arrive at the Caine house. His voice was growing in volume and frustration when he learned from Mable the switch board operator, that the storm warning had elevated to flash flood warning. "I don't care WHAT it takes to get them here, Mable. Just do it.  
I have a badly injured child now that the doc brought in as well as Mary and soon, her new baby, and they can't be delayed!  
No sirree. Now get on it and call when you get through to them.".. his pudgy flushed cheek twitched when he got another wail of panic from Mable. Blaine toned down his voice to a quiet calm level and he added."Maybe you can call up one of those new fangled helibirds from the southern counties to make a flight up here when the weather clears. Now I've got to go. The doc and the good fire boys who came with us need me. Do the best you can." and he clicked the phone down onto its receiver.

-------------------------------------------

Out in the living room, Chet Kelly, Marco Lopez, Mike Stoker and the resort owner Nicola Sommers were all clustered around the small boy that Dr. Frick had entrusted to their care.

He was stretched out on the couch on his back and his arms and neck were liberally wrapped in ace wraps and kerlix. Kelly was making sure that the oxygen he wore still flowed from the small tank at his feet. Marco was busy wrapping the rain soaked boy snuggly in afghans.  
Stoker was taking a pulse on the boy while he slept with his father seated by his head.  
The man was upset and talking, twisting the hem of the quilt covering his son in barely contained anger. "I told Aaron not to go to the swimming hole until the Sheriff said those pack dogs were all trapped and killed. He knows better! As soon as the storm breaks, I swear to G*d that I'm going to go out and put a bullet between the eyes of every snarling mongrel I run into. Look what they've done to him!" he cried.

Nicola rose from her crouch. She had been making sure that Aaron's pressure dressings were still tight and controlling his bleeding.  
"Mr. Johnson, calm down. Now I made a promise to this town and to the Sheriff that I'd do everything possible to make these woods safe again for our kids. And I absolutely mean to do that. But a hunt of this size takes time, .." she said empathetically spreading her hands wide, "...resources.."  
We're going to have to do it Bittner's way or soon there will be more than just our town's children getting maimed out there. Stealth is the answer,  
Nate, quiet stealth. These are DOGS going wild out there, not wolves or coyotes! They most likely KNOW about people and how to avoid traditional hunters."

"Yeah? Well that's not good enough Ms. Sommers.. Just how many little boys have to get shredded like my son here to prove to you and Blaine that this little domestic wildlife problem's a little more than just an isolated incident?!" said the angry father.

There came a moan from the couch. "Daddy?.." said Aaron sleepily.  
"Are ..are they really gone? I'm so scared.." and the boy started crying. "My arms and neck hurt so bad." he sobbed.

Nate Johnson leaned down and cradled his eight year old son and kissed his forehead. "Shhh. Easy Aaron. The doc will be right out to give you medicine to make that pain go away. I promise, but right now he's a little busy with...."

A slap and then the cry of a baby came through the bedroom door that everyone could hear audibly.. Smack! " Wahhh....*gasp* WahhhHHHHhh!"

"Now that's more like it..." celebrated Sheriff Bittner as he returned to the living room. "I tell you the Caines always have fine strong children when they have a mind to.. Hehe." he chuckled.

Everyone's faces lit up with joyful smiles. Included Mr. Johnson's.  
"Do you hear that son? Mary's baby's finally here. Just think. In a few days, we can invite the Caines over for dinner and ..and then you can get start to get to know another future playmate. How does that sound?"

But Aaron was beyond consoling. His terror from the feral dog attack was still very fresh in his mind. He didn't open his eyes and he began to tremble. Marco Lopez rose to start a fire in the Caine's wood stove.

Nate stroked his son's forehead and didn't care when the rain water from his hair mingled with his tears as he let loose all his emotions quietly.

Bittner observed Nate and silently motioned to Nicola to join him at his side. She did, grabbing a sweater and jeans to slide on over her skirt and plaid top that she had grabbed from her hastily snatched backpack on the way into the house earlier. Blaine's face was grave. "The ambulance might be delayed. Now we're gonna haveta figure out a way to get all these folks outta here and into town so the boy can get the surgery the doc says he'll need to repair his injuries."

"Sheriff, just how bad is the weather out there?" she asked softly.

"Bad enough. The valley lowlands are most likely to be flooded out. Probably already are. Mable mentioned warnings of the type."

Nicola threw her head up in frustration after pulling on the thick woolen sweater over her head. "If only we were at my resort. I've plenty of survival gear and a solid Power Wagon."

Blaine chuckled. "That's my girl. That's why you make such a good sworn deputy. Always the provider.."

"Well, I'm not providing enough. Blaine, the boy's border line shocky according to what we've found. If the doc medicates him, he's not going to be in any shape to go anywhere." she confessed.

A new voice spoke up from the living room door. "He'll be ready,  
Ms. Sommers. " said a newly shirt changed Doc Frick. "I'm going to start an IV on Aaron right now since my first priority's been taken care of.. It's a boy..." he said aloud to the room.

Again smiles and celebration filled the air.

"How's he doing?" asked Sheriff Bittner with undisguised glee.

"Terrific. He's a big strapping example of the solid Caine family line."  
Frick said proudly." I wouldn't be surprised if he tips the scale at over nine pounds when we finally get a chance to weigh him."

"Mary?" Nicola asked.

"No complications. At least not birth wise. She became hypoglycemic because of all of her labor but a good hot meal should take care of that."  
Frick admitted.

"Looks like I'll get a chance to fix one, Doc. We may be stranded. The storm's gonna flood the area up to our eyeballs.." Ms. Sommers said dryly.

The doctor's face fell into concern. "Really? I thought this was just a little downpour."

"Of biblical proportions according to Mable.." Blaine huffed.

"Ok.. uh... I'll get started making Aaron more comfortable right now."  
Frick said, scratching his hippy beard absently.

Johnny Gage and Cap quietly crept out of the bedroom and closed the door behind them.

"I'll go get dinner on." Nicola said, eyeing up the black iron stove and antique kitchette across the room where they stood.

"I'll help." Stoker volunteered. "Doc, his pulse's been in the 120's the last few minutes. But that might be because he's still upset."

"Thanks,..uh.."

"Stoker. Fireman Mike Stoker. Nice to finally meet you. Gage and DeSoto have told me all about you.." he said secretly,  
with a wink and he took Doc Frick's hand up in greeting for a second before joining Nicola huddled inside the frig.

Doc blinked briefly."Looks like my reputation's preceded myself again I guess. I'll be glad to tell you the REAL stories Mr. Stoker. Later. Just to set the records straight."

Gage paced over to the Doc's side. "Do you want me to start Aaron's IV? Roy says Mary's just about delivered the baby's placenta."

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll go draw up his Versed for an IV push.  
It'll be better than MS if we're going to be packing it out of here."

"We are?" Johnny startled.

"Yeah..Flashflood's due any hour now. The roads might wash out before the ambulance gets here." Frick said, with resignation.

"Marvelous.. Now I know why I moved to L.A." Gage admitted.

"Why, because of those wonderful ripping Santa Ana winds you guys suffer every summer?" Frick asked wryly.

"No, because of the lack of Noah's flood coming every spring like it seems to do up here." Johnny rejoined.

Hank Stanley couldn't help but overhear. He frowned.  
Then he turned and got the other firemen's attentions.  
"Gang. Go turn the rover around and unload all the camp gear we got in it. That'll be our backup ambulance if they aren't here within the hour."  
"Right, Cap." Marco said, motioning to Kelly go come with him for a fast dash outside to get the white vehicle set for travel. Then he turned to the doctor. "Will the baby be all right in all this rain?"

"He'll be fine. We can offset any further breathing trouble he might have by making an incubator out of a dresser drawer and a dry cleaner's plastic bag with an O2 tank. Roy's keeping tabs on his condition while Mary finishes up with the afterbirth."

"Want that too?" Gage piped up.

"Yeah, it'll make Mary's ob gyn exam later easier.  
I want to make sure she's got through delivery as well as I think she did."

"ok, I'll take care of it after I get to Aaron."

"Good deal." Cap said.

Hank waited by the door until a soaking Kelly and Lopez returned from outside.

"Man, it's raining torrents now." Chet said, shaking off rivers of water from a raincoat he had thrown on from the rover. "Johnny I brought this coat and your spare for Mary and Aaron if we need em getting out to the truck and we parked it at the head of the driveway."

"Thanks, Kelly." Johnny said, hanging up the I.V. he had begun on the dozing boy onto the edge of a lampshade above his head. "Doc,  
all set for ya."

Doc Frick kneeled to give the boy the medication.  
"Nate. This isn't a sedative. This will simply help Aaron,....not remember his discomfort as soon as he feels it."

"Thanks, Doc. I appreciate it." Mr. Johnson said.  
His eyes were dry and he was calmer now that a plan of action had been formulated.

"Gage." Frick said.

"Yeah."

"Mark down.." and he looked at his watch.  
".03 mgs Versed into that D5W at 16:09 hours.  
After his drip runs in an initial 20cc's bolus, turn it TKO. He only lost around 300 cc's blood from his bites before I bound them up. None had arterial damage. Have a Ringer's on standby piggy back if his pressure drops below 80 systolic. No need for a survey. I already know his history."

"Right." Johnny said, using one of his green pens that never left his side. He grinned at the luxury of having a live doctor at hand instead of just a voice on a phone. "You'll be fine, Aaron. Just give that medication a chance to work it's magic." he said to the child.

Aaron Johnson sighed in his sleep and rolled over a little deeper into his pile of blankets. Nate began to snore, too, from where his head drooped onto his chest in an armchair.

Gage rose and began to pack up all the sheriff's medical gear to take with them.  
::I sure hope we don't have to rely on that ambulance. The rover's far far better at roughing it.::

The thunder booming around them began to recede,  
with a drenching solid rain taking its place. Nothing could be seen outside the windows.

Then the sounds of howls and clicking, pacing claws on the wood walkboards outside the house, began.

"Oh, no.." Nicola said from where she froze by the stove.  
A snarling doberman was glaring at her through the window.  
"Looks like we have company for dinner."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo : Roy, Chet in vacation clothes.

Photo : Roy with a neck injured boy.

Photo : Nicola in a maroon blouse, whirling in fright.

Photo: A small cabin kitchen and window.

Photo: A lunging Doberman, raving made, peering over a wooden fence.

Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 16:03:54 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Tooth and Nail

"Dag nabbed varmit!" shouted Sheriff Bittner angrily.  
"I knew I should have shot the blood hound in the pack when I had the chance! "

Nate Johnson sat bolt upright in his chair, wrenched from sleep from a dog's impact on the wall behind his head. "Aghh! Aaron?" He was horrified by the snarling dogs milling around outside. The man picked up a fire place poker to stand over his son nervously.

Nicola addressed Blaine's comment. "How do you mean?  
Why didn't you?"

"I wasn't sure if he was Elmer Rackett's dog sent out to work out a quail that night or not. I couldn't tell. It was too dark."

That disturbed the whole gang. Even Roy came out of the bedroom, pulling the door open from where Mary was nursing her newborn baby. He was immediately drawn by the look of remorseful regret on the sheriff's face.

"Blood hounds never lose a scent. They've tracked the boy here." Sheriff Bittner said, drawing out his pistol.

Sure enough, the dogs excited barking was punctuated with the baying of a coon hound announcing that he was locked on.

"That one must be the alpha male now." Nicola said.  
"I shot the old alpha, a pitbull, who attacked the first town boy, a few days ago." Her face twisted in anxiety. "I..I..thought our problems were ended after I did that. Feral packs always disband and die off once they lose their leader. They don't have the same survival instincts to save themselves like wolves do." Her eyes fell on Aaron, lying awake now,  
and terrified under his oxygen mask. "I'm so sorry.."  
Ms. Sommers whispered, tears filling her eyes.

Nate Johnson rose nervously and immediately went to the woman's side. "It's not your fault. No one could have predicted this." and he caressed her arm in forgiveness.

Roy hushed Mary with a gesture when she began to ask a question. "Cap. What's going on?"

"Remember that lovely chorus of supposed coyotes we were serenaded by last night?" Hank asked wryly.

"Yeah. They ruined all of our sleeping."

"They weren't harmless coyotes. They're dogs gone wild. Little Aaron here was their latest target. And now they're here to try and finish the job." Cap said low and tense.

"Not if I can help it." Bittner said from where he was watching the door. "We've got protection." and he hefted his gun.

Nicola scoffed, rubbing chilled arms around herself, through her sweater. "Oh, please.. with six bullets? We don't know how many of them are out there."

"Easy way to find out." Chet Kelly piped up. He turned towards the bedroom where Mrs. Caine lay on her bed.  
"Excuse me, maam?" he asked from where he could see her. He dipped his head. "Uh, congratulations about the baby." he broke off, uncomfortable with bothering the exhausted new mother.

Mrs. Caine nodded, encouraging him to go on with his question even as she hugged Darren to herself tighter as her fear grew.

"Do you have an attic upstairs?" Chet went on.

"Yes."

"May we go up there to look around?" he asked.

"You don't have to ask me for anything, sir.  
Do what you must. Keep my baby safe." she sobbed.

Kelly turned to Cap, who still hadn't put two and two together yet. "We can open the upper story window and get on the roof to see how many there are. I know there's one over the half roof because I saw it when we got here. Maybe we can even secure the sheriff out there with ropes so he can shoot down a couple. Might scare the rest off."

"Bound to be slippery." Cap said.

"I'm willin to risk it." Blaine replied instantly.

Hank angled his jaw, nodding the more and more he mulled it over. Then the rising din coming from the scratching, digging, hunting pack made up his mind for him. "Lopez help the Doc get Mary and Aaron set to move. Gage, Stoker, Kelly, come with me and we'll get things started in the attic. We don't want them still out there when those ambulance attendants arrive. In fact, we're no longer gonna wait. Bittner can radio town to cancel the call.  
We'll take them out ourselves. It's too dangerous here now with those animals and all the localized flooding going on."

"Right." they answered.

The five men ran up the wooden stairs as fast as they could go with the sheriff hastily loading his gun.

"Nicola? Would you get the baby into that drawer incubator the doc talked about.." Gage said as he rushed after Cap.

"I sure will." she said, untying her apron and turning off the stove. She hurried into the bedroom to join Roy at Mrs. Caine's side. "I know my way around medical gear so maybe I can help out that way, too." she told DeSoto.

Roy nodded. "Now, first things first. We have to get both of them in as many warm clothes as possible."

Doctor Frick did likewise with his patients in the living room to get ready to flee with Aaron and Mr. Johnson.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Easy now! We got ya.." Gage grunted as he, Cap, Kelly and Stoker hung onto the makeshift line holding the sheriff fast on his feet on the rain streaming roof. The sheriff was soaked and bedraggled but his aiming eye was true.

He soon ended the life of the questing blood hound in a second. The gang winced at the yelp that echoed up to them. Bittner's face was grim. "I got five shots left.  
Let me watch them for a while to figure out who are the aggressive leader types. If I get them, the rest'll run."

Hank nodded. "Take your time. We can hold you all day."

"I know ya can.." Bittner said with confidence and an undisguised affection for the firefighters. "I've read all about the kind of training you guys do down in the big city."

The gang watched, uneasy, as the sheriff started assessing the pack's members. "See that greyhound? She big, but shy.  
Her tail's down. She's a follower. Now that German Shepard,  
he's been wild a while, his coat's full of burrs and it's patchy from a fire. Hasn't been one here since last winter. The huskies are new. They're still wearing their collars. They're no threat and just along for the game. Probably joined up with the rest of them this morning. Now there's one. See her boys? That great big black dane's rallying them."

He began to squeeze the trigger with the snarling dog in his sites who had locked eyes on him. A mat of shingle moss gave way under Bittner's right foot and he went down, his shot going wild,  
and he skidded over the edge of the roof. The milling dogs converged into a knot, racing to where he was falling.

The gang flattened when the bullet bit a chunk of wood frame inches away from their heads. Kelly yelped, "Don't drop him!"  
And they strained to get back onto their feet. Lopez and Stoker were the first to stand and get the rope wrapping firmly around their wrists again to arrest Blaine's slide off the roof.

Bittner's hat fell off and hit the muddy ground below. It was immediately torn apart by the dogs.

Cap called out. "Sheriff, are you all right down there?!"

"Yeah.. Get me up. I still got my gun! Ahh!" he said as the Great Dane leaped up and tore one of his pants legs.  
"And be quick about it! They're reaching my legs!"

With concerted effort the four firefighters inched up Bittner's soggy bulk, hand over sweaty hand, until the lawman could throw a leg up over the gutter and crawl back onto his hands and knees onto the rain streaked cedar shingles.

Thinking a moment, the sheriff threw his line around the base of the brick chimney for leverage in case he slipped again.

"You hurt at all?" Hank hollered.

Blaine wiped rain out of his face and ran fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes. He looked down at his shredded pants leg. "Nah." Then he drew out the gun from his holster again. "I anchored myself round the chimney. You boys got some purchase now. Hold me fast!"

And he aimed with great deliberation over a forearm.

Bang! Chinggg..... a bullet riccocheted off Doc Frick's red station wagon and impacted dead center into the black dog's ribcage. The Dane leaped up, bit her side and then he fell down into a heap and didn't move again. "Got you you little piece of Cain.." he whispered with a tight grin.

"Four left sheriff.." Chet called from the window.

Blaine's sense of irony struck him and he glanced back at the curly haired fireman with a wave. "I know.  
I know young man. Thanks for keeping track.." he joked.

An emaciated Doberman looked up from the hat he had just urinated on. He connected with Bittner's eyes and began to growl low in his throat.

Blaine didn't break eye contact. "Sorry I gotta do this fella. That kind of behavior's just too rude for me. You're next in line.." And another shot snuffed out the pack member's sad fated life.

Yelping, the others broke and ran around the house away from Blaine when the Doberman died but a German Shepard remained behind, standing guard over her mate's carcass. She, too, growled a warning at the man on the roof, her white teeth dripping.

Sheriff Bittner took careful aim.....

-  
Roy was just finishing getting the baby into the dresser drawer resting on the bed, fussing with the oxygen tubing under the plastic in with the baby, when Mary suddenly screamed from where she was standing with Marco's help by the foot of the bed.

A creamy white body burst through the bedroom window in a shower of glass and water.

The growling filthy dog, knocked the new mother to the carpetting,  
attracted by the scent of blood and body fluid on her skin.

Roy snatched up the baby's drawer and tossed it heavily to Marco,  
who caught it with blind luck and backed slowly out of the room. "Mary, don't move!" DeSoto said, spreading his arms wide to stave off the dog's growing idea to chase after Lopez.

Mary trembled but lay still on the rug. She flinched when the growling dog sniffed at her waist and set a paw on her. The whole time, the dog kept his eyes locked on Roy, who was the only real threat in the room.

Sniffing, the dog's attention wavered when it smelled the afterbirth inside a white plastic bag set on the floor.

There was a sharp recoil of yellow and orange and a puff of gun powder and the white dog flew backwards into the wall, dying.

Nicola Sommers stood in the doorway, feet planted apart,  
with a gun firmly gripped into both of her hands. She didn't stop pointing the gun until a book thrown at the curr failed to rouse it. Then she saw Roy and Mary's frozen looks.  
"Nice ranch house. Guns in every corner." she remarked.

Roy unlocked his muscles and knelt by Mary's side when the woman began to sob uncontrollably from where she lay on the floor. "Mary, are you all right? Did you hit your head? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Mrs. Caine didn't answer, lost in a hysterical outburst of relief.

Doctor Frick and Marco Lopez peeked through the door. "Did she get it?"

"Yeah," Roy said, sitting Mrs. Caine up and hugging her to his chest to calm her down even as he took a pulse at her wrist. "I think she's ok, too. The dog didn't have time to bite her." He checked Mrs. Caine's I.V. It was all right and still running.

"Glad I was watching you, Roy. The baby's upset but the Doc found no bumps or bruises." Marco said. "Darren's ok, Mary.  
Nate's watching him in the living room. He's ok."

Mrs. Caine just sobbed weakily, letting her arms hang limply by her sides as Roy picked her up into an arm carry out of the room. "Let's get her out of here. And close that door Marco.  
The dog might still be alive."

"I doubt that.." Nicola quipped, rechecking how many shots she had left in the antique revolver she had found.

Four shots from upstairs rang out in regular deliberation faintly. Then it was quiet. Soon the others returned down the stairs, out of breath and sweating.

Doc Frick saw Bittner's leg and greeted the sheriff with a warm blanket which he placed around his shoulders.  
"What in h*ll did you just do, Blaine. I told you no heroics with that angina you got.. Come over here and sit down!" he said angrily.

Meekly, the dripping sheriff did so.

"Now open your shirt.." Frick ordered, slipping on a stethoscope.  
"How do you feel?"

"Terrific. The worst of them are all dead. And the others won't be coming back."

"Shh!!" Frick hissed, listening to Blaine's chest.

Chet Kelly's eyes got huge. "You mean we let a man with a bad heart hang from the roof just now?"

"Shhh!" Cap shushed. "Let the doc get in his exam."

"It was all my idea. You're free and clear young man.." Blaine said as he struggled to slow down his breathing rate. He was smiling but then his face twisted into one of pain as his hand absently gripped his gray maned chest.

"Hmm.. thought you could fool me, huh.." Frick said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a bottle of nitro pills and he dug out one. "Here.. Melt this under your tongue.. Gage, could you get a pressure on him. We'll see if he needs a second once after we get our initial BP."

"Sure, Doc. uh... Is he ok?"

"Blaine here? Oh, yeah. He's fine. Did his open heart surgery myself. A quadruple bypass. He's unlikely to have another M.I anytime soon. That is, if he ever stops thinking he's some kind of Superman. That was a really stupid stunt you just pulled on these boys mister lawman."

"Sue me old bones. Those feral dogs aren't ever gonna seige anyone else ever again." Sheriff smiled closing his eyes as Stoker set him on some oxygen. "All thanks ta me."

"And me.." Nicola glared with mock outrage. "What an ego.  
Geesh.." and she crossed her arms together tapping a leather booted toe on the rug.

"Ok. ok.. I'll give Annie Oakley over there some credit, too. She killed the original alpha male, a big rottweiler, when it dragged down a prize steer last autumn at the Fair Grounds. That's how we found out about the whole sorry feral dog mess in the first place."

Roy said. "Chalk up one more point for Nicola, Sheriff."

"Huh? What for?"

"She took out one that came through the window at us in the bedroom."

"It was the cream, Blaine. I told you he was brains behind the whole pack. He leaped through the glass and got inside to get at us just like I said he might do."

"Ooo. well, ok.. You called me on that particular nasty brand of dog, too. I stand corrected."

"And I'm grateful to BOTH of you." Mary said quietly from her arm chair where Marco sat with her. "You get better and recover fast, Blaine. You've got a christening to go to." she scolded.

"Thank you, Mary.." the sheriff said instantly, cowed.

Gage sat back from where he had taken the sheriff's blood pressure. "That nitroglycerin lowered his pressure a little bit. What is it usually?"

"140/98." said doctor and patient simultaneously.

"Well it's twenty millimeters mercury lower than that now.."  
Johnny grinned.

"Fine. Blaine, have a second pill. You're still clenching your teeth." Frick fussed. "Come on now, open wide."

"Aw, Doc. I hate the taste of those things."

"They're better than baby aspirin." Gage quipped.  
"Those'll be next if your angina doesn't settle down."

"Nope. Ain't gonna."  
Bittner grumbled, shaking his head and fighting the doc's attempts to put the pill into his mouth.

Roy smiled. "Say, doc. Got an EKG/Defibrillator in that red station wagon of yours? Maybe we can jolt him into compliance."

Frick rolled his eyes. " I don't think we need it. He's just being mule headed. I can wait a little longer." he said parking the pill onto a napkin in his hand so that it wouldn't start effecting him. "His pulse is very regular. And it'll stay that way if he stops carrying on like a crazed maniac at every little crisis cropping up in and out of town."

"Doc, I'm the sheriff!" Blaine protested.

"Who's got a sworn deputy who's so bored for something to do, that she's redesigning a resort into a bed and breakfast. Come on. You're sixty nine years old. And I've already ordered you medically to start easing off the job responsibilities. Try another little cack handed stunt like ya did on the roof just now and I swear I'll turn a report into the Board tendering a request for your early retirement.." the doctor warned.

"You wouldn't dare.."

"Just watch me.." Frick said without looking away or lowering his finger.

"Hey,, Blaine. Go ahead and do something stupid.  
I kind of like the sound of my future title. Sheriff Nicola Sommers. It's got a nice ring to it."

Blaine stuck a tongue out at Nicola.  
And Doc Frick immediately tossed in the second nitro pill.

"There's a good boy. Now stay quiet for ten minutes. Thanks Nicola. That little schtick works every time."

"Nothing like a man with an overblown pride for his profession."  
the young woman grinned toothily.

Blaine's face screwed up at the bitter taste in his mouth. But he obeyed and didn't say anything else as he dissolved it and swallowed.

Hank tapped the Doc on the shoulder. "So he's stable.."

"As a rock. All of this is just precautionary." said Frick absently of Blaine's oxygen and the nitro pill bottle he had in his hand.

"Ok. We'll leave when he's pain free again, splitting up into the three cars. Mr. Johnson's just agreed to help get Aaron into the hospital using his vehicle."

"And I got the extra hand held radios we'll use."  
Sheriff said, raising a finger, in addition.

"Sweet." Frick said. "Thanks Nate. So the Porsche'll get a little muddy. So what? It's for a good cause."

"Speaking of cars getting messed, there's a new bullet hole in your car, Doctor Frick." Chet said. Mike Stoker slapped him on the arm for his bold line.

But the Doctor was unsurprised. "Oh, another one? It's not the first time, boys. The ding'll just add more character.  
If it got on target bouncing off my fender, all is fine with me. "

"It did. The head b*tch went down without a hitch."  
Blaine nodded.

"Hey, did he just swear a curse word?"  
said little Aaron. "Dad, we should tell ol Mable on him."  
She'll wash his mouth out with soap for sure."  
And the tiny boy started laughing hysterically.

"That the Versed talking?" Nate asked Roy.

"Uh huh.." said DeSoto, burying a chin into his hand.  
"Don't worry. It'll wear off in a little bit."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes later, the three laden cars slowly made their way onto the highway almost invisible under a flowing sheet of rainwater.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo : A dog snarling over a woman's stomach.

Photo: Roy hefting a child to safety.

Photo: Dead dog in front of a truck.

Photo: A woman with a gun.

Photo: Land rover driving through flood waters.

Photo: An old man on a nasal cannula.

*  
From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Wed Jun 30, 2004 3:41 pm Subject: Let the River Run.

"Geez," said Chet at one particular deep section of water lying across the road. "I hope they know where they're going up there." he bemoaned to his coworkers in the land rover about the silver porsche in front of their three car convoy. They were last in line, following Frick's eccentric red wagon. Johnny didn't say anything, thoroughly concentrating on the road ahead of them. Already, it was barely visible in the building rain and darkness surrounding them.

Marco still clutched the handy talkie that was one of three that linked Nate's silver porsche, Doc Frick's red station wagon and Gage's truck all together. "Johnny, Roy says that the baby, Aaron and Mary are doing just fine. He's already gotten permission from Doc Frick to discontinue the two I.V.'s on the boy and the mother."

"Thanks." Gage replied, not moving his eyes from the car in front.

Cap sighed, keeping his eye as well on the red fender of the station wagon Frick was driving. The doc had Sheriff Bittner as a passenger so he could keep an eye on his heart pain. "Nate Johnson said that he knew the high places to travel during storms like this. We're just going to have to trust him to know what he's doing men. If you think about it, only a local would know their way around these parts come nightfall."

"Doesn't mean I have to be comfortable with it." Kelly grumbled. "You should've sat with them, Cap."

"Not my place to. The Sheriff's in charge of this rescue operation. Whether we like it or not, we're just along for the ride." Hank added, rubbing his damp nose.

Mike Stoker gripped Cap's seat back and said.  
"Let's just hope we make town as soon as possible.  
I don't like the look of the mountainside to our left. Last sign we passed said 'Danger, Rockfall.' "

"You're a bundle of comfort, Stoker. That's my side of the car." Kelly quipped, sinking down into his seat a little lower under his rain gear.

"Better than my side near the drop off." Mike replied cheekily.

Gage said loudly,, "Hang on!" and he swerved the five firefighter's rover around a fallen tree trunk.

Chet hit his head. "Owww! Gage. Watch it!"

"I AM watchin it. " Johnny panted. "Just shut up and let me drive or maybe you'd like to do this instead?" Gage glared into the rear view mirror.

"Cut it out you, two." Cap ordered. "Kelly, he's doing fine so hush. Make yourself busy with reading a map or something if you're bored."

"I'm not bored.." Chet parroted. "Lopez, did I say I was bored?"

"Not exactly, but you're a little too fidgety for my liking." admitted the spanish fireman.

"Thanks alot, amigo, same to you. If you roll down that window one more time checking to see how hard it's still raining I'm gonna--"

"Do nothing, Chet. And I mean now..!" Hank snarled.

All the men crowded in Johnny's muddy rover piped down. They knew when they had crossed a line when they heard that voice from Hank, on or off duty.

"Thanks, Cap. Now maybe I can avoid obstacles a little easier.." Johnny huffed. "Is his head ok?" he asked of Kelly.

"Right as it's ever gonna be." Hank admitted, still pinning Chet into vocal silence with his glare.

"Ok. Just asking.." Johnny said, missing the joke entirely as he fought road and water.  
"Just passed a sign giving mileage distances.  
Looks like we've only got nine left to go before we hit town."

--------------------------------------------------------------

Roy continually checked with Mary Caine and her new baby still inside the improvised dresser drawer incubator sitting on Nicola's knees. He had little Aaron in his lap where his body heat could keep the child warm and away from the chilled seat leather of his father's Porsche.

"We've only one bridge crossing to go, Mr.  
DeSoto, then we'll gain some elevation away from all this flash flooding." Mr. Johnson said as he gripped his cow skin wrapped steering wheel.

Roy nodded.

Nicola drew her wool sweater around her shoulders a little closer about herself as night fell. There wasn't another set of headlights anywhere on the mountain above them that she could see.  
"Do you think they've already evacuated the valley's highway because of the warning? I'm not seeing anybody out there."

"Check with the sheriff. He said Doctor Frick's got a CB radio in his car that can link with the weather station." Roy replied, handing Ms. Sommers the police HT he had used earlier to talk to Lopez and the Doc.

Nicola palmed the radio, and hailed. "Sheriff, got your ears on?"

##Yep. As if I'd EVER not have them tuned in, little lady#  
he answered back from the red station wagon behind Nate's car. Despite some stress, his voice still sounded cheerful to Nicola over the walkie talkie.

"How're the roads on the broadcast radio, Bittner? The way ahead looks deserted to us on the higher grades." she asked.

##They are. Just got word from Mable. No driving is advised. People who were stuck in town are taking shelter at the hospital to wait it out.##

"So they know we're coming?" Nicola asked double checking.

##Absolutely. The fire department's waiting on the outskirts, set for an intercept. They'll be the manpower we'll need to switch out our patient transport vehicles. I've ordered both ambulances to report, too.##

"Ok, Nicola out." and she released the talk button.  
She tapped Nate on the shoulder across the driver's seat. He turned his head. "Just us out here. You won't have to worry about people coming down the mountain at us, Nate. Blaine's just confirmed it."

"Great. Clear sailing. Did you hear that, son?" he said.

"Mmmm.." Aaron mumbled sleepily.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The river between the mountain and the town was an angry morass of brown and froth. It lapped at the foot of the bridge span hungrily as it spun shattered debris and trees against the girders.

Nate Johnson slowed his acceleration and flashed his lights so the two cars behind him would know to do the same. "No police barricades yet. Good,  
we can go across."

"Nate, wait. I don't think I've ever seen the river this high before. Something's not right." Nicola said.

Roy looked up from where he was holding the sleeping Aaron in concern. He drew up a hand and rubbed out a steamy place on the window to look out. "Do you see cracks on the bridge asphalt?"  
he asked Sommers.

"No.. it's ...call it intuition guys. I don't care. I think the flooding's higher out there than it looks."

"Let's take a vote.." Nate said. "Radio the others."

Soon, everyone knew about Nicola's misgivings.

But then Mary said. "Please, Darren can't wait.  
He needs rest somewhere warm and safe. This car's no place for a newborn. I say we go on and into town. The sooner the better."

##All right, Mary, if it's what you want." said Sheriff Bittner over the radio. #Nate, you heard the lady.  
Vamanos.##

The three cars travelled cautiously onto the small steel and concrete bridge stretching across the valley. Just beyond, they could see town.

The first car got to the other side. There, the banks were already overflowing the wetlands at the bridge's foot. To Johnson, the sheeting water just looked like a thin veneer over the road. He inched forward.

Suddenly Nate's car dropped into the swift water over the road. It was far deeper than he realized and the Porsche began to slide sidewise off the highway with the flood water up to the bottom of the car doors. Mary began to scream.

"No!" yelled Doc Frick, who floored the gas on the heavier station wagon. His momentum missed connecting with the Porsche in an attempt to push the lighter car to high ground, and he overshot Nate, screeching across the wet exposed road just beyond.

The doc and sheriff leaped out of the red car to run to the edge of the water where Nate's car was floating away.  
"Nate! Roll down your windows. Before you sink!"

Johnny gunned his gas pedal, to reach the safety of the far bank like Frick had done.

But the country bridge's concrete bed suddenly dropped on its cables, its suspended road way tilting sharply when an unseen submerged house hit it with its full water logged weight. The force jolted Johnny's land rover over the edge and into the river's depths.  
Soon, the sheriff and the doctor, were alone by the red wagon, perched precariously on the drowning highway partially swallowed by the raging river, screaming the names they knew at the night, listening for a reply.  
There was none returned except the full throated roar of the flood as it destroyed the river bridge.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Photo : Roy in a car holding an injured boy's bleeding neck.

Photo : A rainy bridge from inside a car.

Photo : A flooding river.

Photo : Johnny's land rover, underwater.

Photo : A struggling man under water.

*  
From : Cory Anda Sent : Thursday, July 1, 2004 12:39 AM Subject : Separation

Johnny felt the land rover shift under his hands. "We're going over! Watch o--"

But then the white truck was plummeting down like a stone underneath the wild night river's surface.

Cap gasped when the car landed on its side on the river's bottom. His ears hurt from the water pressure but he could still see lightning reflecting from the sky down to them. "Everyone all right?!" he coughed, feeling in the pitch blackness for movement in the seats around him. "Tell me you're all still conscious.. Hey..sound off!" he shouted over the hiss of water seeping in gushes from the window cracks into the cab of the rover.

"Yeah.."  
"oh my g--"  
"What happened?" "*sputter choke* Still here."

"The bridge gave way and we fell in. " Cap said, spitting mud and water out of his mouth. "Gage? You ok?"

"uh,, yeah.. I'm not pinned."

"Good cause we're gonna get out of here. Now.  
Before we get hung up on any debris on the bottom.  
Stoker. Grab that tire iron. Take a window out. My side's turned up. Feel it?" Hank strained as he cut himself lose from his seatbelt with a pocket knife.

"Yeah.." coughed the engineer. "How far's the surface?"

"Not too far. I'm seeing a glow from the lightning."

Kelly was terrified, "Not....ready..." he cried softly.  
"I ...can't breathe.."

Marco grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him into his arms. "You're fine. You aren't hurt.  
I already checked ya. We'll go up together."

"No.. please just wait. I ...can't. I don't think I can do this." Chet gasped, hanging on tight to Lopez's arms from where he lay across the car seat.  
Water rained down on his face, blinding him.

"Ok.. ok.." Cap said, floating nearer the top end of the rover's cab as the water grew deeper around them.  
"We got rope in here?"

"Yeah. " Lopez said.. "I'll go get it." and he dove underneath the black water to the back of the rover in the storage area.  
He shot back to the top with a coiled length.

Gage snatched Chet's head and pulled him onto his shoulder,  
floating both their faces in the remaining air space above them.  
"Chet. Start to hyperventilate yourself.. You're gonna need to because you're getting yourself worked up."

"What? *gasp* Of course I'm getting worked up! We're about to drown in a raging river who knows how deep and--"

"No one's gonna drown cause we're gonna tie ourselves together."  
Cap thundered. "Marco, here. Get him secured and Gage too. I already got myself anchored in a hitch. Set? Ok, Mike, pop it open. On the count of three."

"Too soon.. I'm not--!" Chet sputtered, tight in Johnny's grip.

"One.." Hank nodded grimly to Stoker.

"Cap.. don't .. I--" Chet pleaded.

"Two..."

"....can't catch my breath. I'll suck down water for sure and die.. I just need a little more t--" Kelly begged.

"THREE!" Cap shouted.

Stoker swung at the window above them with all of his strength.

" AghhhhHHHHHH!" Kelly screamed as the river flooded in. The five hapless firemen were swept out of the under water land rover and carried downstream inside the twisting river's under tow.

Swimming blindly, Cap felt a yank on his rope as they were all tugged and tumbled in the current.

A hidden tree limb smashed into his ribs and he lost most of his air. Desperation made him kick frantically in the direction that his escaping bubbles were now travelling in the water.

Up.

Hank's head broke the surface into a storming,  
fast moving h*ll.

The pine forest rushed by as the river carried the firemen swiftly in its grip. Near them, the great bulk of the sunken house that had ruined the bridge, paced them at their same drifting velocity.

He moved away from the house, worried about getting himself and his men crushed against it when it finally ground to a halt on a shallow bottom.

One by one, the other heads of his men shot to the surface, and he heard them begin to gasp as they struggled to replenish precious air back into their burning lungs. "All here?" Hank asked.

Gage shouted. "Cap! Chet's out cold."

"Did he get nailed by something on the way up?" Hank said as all of them linked arms, passing the limp Kelly into the center of their floating circle so they could keep his mouth and nose up into the air more easily.

"I don't think so, nothing got me." Johnny said.  
"Maybe he just fainted. He was pretty scared down there."

"So were we all. Keep tabs on his breathing. The rest of us'll kick for shore. Gather the rope's ends back up. I don't want us to get dragged back under on a snag."

Johnny shook extra water out of his hair.  
"Ok, Stoker,.. open his shirt. I wanna keep tabs on him by feel. Marco, make sure he isn't bleeding anywhere."

"Right." they answered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nate was horribly frightened. "Freeze. Everybody don't move!"  
he panicked as the vibrating lurch of his tires dragging sideways ended. In a blur, he saw the red station wagon and Doctor Frick and the Sheriff recede into the distance as his car was gripped by the flood. "Get the baby out! Aaron?!"

Mr. Johnson reached for his son as water spilled violently into the car.

Roy hefted the infant over his head, wrapping Darren up in the plastic covering that had been over the drawer.  
"Mary.. get out the window. I've got him. Nicola?!"

The Porsche slammed into a tree trunk and hung there,  
canted sharply up stream. Roy got out and found the water was to his waist. He held Darren in his arms and Mary waded out, terrified but watching DeSoto holding the baby.

A shout from the shore showed Doctor Frick and Sheriff Bittner flinging a rope in their direction. Roy grasped it and handed it to Mary. "Go. I'll hand him off..." he ordered, fighting to stay on his feet in the swift water.

Mary went and Roy tossed Darren over his head to land safely in Bittners wide arms. The baby squealed in fright but soon calmed down as he was taken up by his mother's soothing hands.

Roy waded back out to the car where he could see a partially submerged Nate shoving his son out the driver's window. Of Nicola, there was no sign. "She still in there?"

"I ...I...I don't know.." sputtered Nate Johnson.  
"I think she got out."

Roy made a grab for Aaron's arms and snatched the boy up to the shore. "Take him." DeSoto told Bittner. " I gotta get--"

Then the Porsche suddenly rolled out of sight, carrying a screaming Mr. Johnson and an invisible Ms. Sommers with it. "Nate! Nicola!" The power of the current startled him.

DeSoto dove back into the swollen river, tying the sheriff's rope around his waist. He ducked under the waves, holding his breath, and felt the car slip over a muddy bar and away from him downstream.

At the same time, a shard of bridge material shot by and sliced his safety rope in two with knifelike precision.

Roy disappeared.

Sheriff Bittner and Doctor Frick ran down the shoreline,  
tracing where they could see the tumbling silver Porsche log rolling in the rapids, calling out to them frantically.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nicola Sommers coughed and roused. She was on her back,  
at the very edge of the raging river. She barely remembered pulling Nate Johnson free of the car before it sank into the depths.

Dimly, she remembered that she had heard a loud sound on shore after she had dragged a limp Mr. Johnson onto the bank.

It had been a dry rasping buzz that made her recoil in fright. Soon after, something unseen in the darkness had struck her left hand sharply.

Groggily peering down, Nicola saw only a small smear of blood there. The slight wound she found burned only faintly, but her heart was pounding.

::Where is he?:: Sommers wondered, dizzy, about Nate. She winced, when a lump the size of a grape on her temple, argued with her louder than her throbbing hand. ::And what's that awful smell?:: she thought, shaking her head to come more fully awake.

With her eyes, muzzy and unfocused, she realized that she was just below the water treatment plant. It was still completely storm unscathed and the raw sewage stench coming from the reservoir pools swirling at the top of the hill was as strong as ever. Nicola gagged.

Sneezing, she flipped over onto her hands and knees to clear her mouth out of foul tasting mud.

Her right hand bumped into Nate Johnson's waist.  
He was lying motionless and blue next to her under a knot of severed electrical wire. "Oh, G*d." she cried and scrambled for his head. "Mr. Johnson?!"

He didn't react to a firm chest rub so she leaned down and listened over his cobalt lips, opening his airway carefully. ::Hypothermia?::

No sounds of active breathing rewarded her. "It's worse than that? Nate. Don't do this." she mumbled to herself.

Nicola gave him two breaths of air mouth to mouth and then she dug a set of fingers into his neck. She verbally snapped, angry, but also half fearful. "Nate. Cut it out and breathe.  
You gotta live for your son. No way am I gonna let you stay and almost drown like this."

Seconds later, she confirmed that Mr. Johnson's heart had stopped. "Nate! You're out of the water!" she shouted "Come on. Snap out of it." and she began to administer CPR after freeing him from his mud smeared shirt.

After the next set of breaths, Nicola shouted for help into the dripping, still functioning HT dangling around her wrist. "Sheriff?! Doc?! Nate's down! No pulse. I'm just south of the bridge junction about... two hundred yards. Right below Pig's Eye Plant. He either drown or a power line got him."

##Any sign of Roy DeSoto?##

Nicola shifted around, searching, as she continued her efforts.

"No. None... I haven't seen him since the bridge fell."  
Nicola gasped as she continued to maintain Nate. "Hurry. I don't think I can keep this up much longer.  
I've hit my head among other things."

##We'll be right there!## the sheriff promised. ##The wagon's intact..##

Nicola counted off a minute, two minutes, then five as the world narrowed down into a tight focus until it was just the lifeless man lying underneath her palms. "Nate.. Come back." she gasped. "You picked a stupid place to die in. The air's foul.  
Dead fish everywhere. This whole beach's a complete sh*thole. Disgusting! Pick it up, d*mmit!" she gagged,  
still working hard on keeping her compressions effective.

Doctor Frick and the Sheriff came running down the hill,  
skidding and grimacing at the smell of the treatment plant, laden with all the medical gear they could carry.

"Down here! He's gonna need an esophageal. He's getting tight with inhalations."

Frick and Bittner soon took over for Nicola who gratefully staggered a short distance away, finally allowing herself to get sick onto the flood soft mud as she let her roiling stomach take over. Then she folded into a heap, falling unconscious.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roy DeSoto sped through the darkness in the river, his strength waning. His outdoor clothes constantly caught on trees and debris floating around him. So he shed all of them down to his bare skin, including his shoes, saving only his orange rain jacket for some protection when he finally got to shore.

Ten minutes and many bruises later, a struggling plow horse nearby in the water got his attention and he grabbed its mane, letting the exhausted but placid animal swim him to what appeared to be a boat landing mooring site.

Shuddering off its excess water and mud, the big brown horse fled, leaving Roy to stagger on his own out of the water.

A renewed roar behind him made Roy run faster away from the flooding river as the bridge and the house that had pulverised it made the flood surge even higher up the mountain slopes.

He fled with icy rising water lapping at both of his bare heels.

Minutes later, after a period of unthinking panic, DeSoto realized that he was in town, inside a city park. A sign was posted declaring a roadside shelter a few hundred yards away.

Groaning, Roy limped slowly in that direction, wondering whether or not his coworkers and the other Santa Rosa folks, had survived.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doc Frick worked on reviving Nate with his defibrillator while Bittner gathered up Nicola into his arms to figure out what was wrong with her. "Doc, she doesn't look so good."

"How so?" Frick said, giving Nate another jolt from the defibrillator. The second time rewarded him with a viable rhythm. "Gotcha." He smiled when Mr. Johnson also began to breathe through his EOA. "Blaine, set her down over here before you strain yourself into another angina attack."

Bittner shrugged and set her down, placing her head into his lap.  
"She's ok vitals wise. Just not awake." he puzzled.

"I'll take a look at her as soon as I take a set of vitals on him. Why don't you get on the horn and tell those ambulance boys to meet us here at the plant?"  
Frick suggested.

"Good idea, doc." and Blaine dug the walkie talkie out of his pocket to hail them.

-  
The gang had freed themselves from the flood.

They were walking down the rainy highway towards the direction of the bridge crossing they had been swept away from almost fifteen minutes ago.

Chet had recovered fully from his misadventure and was gabbing as fast as he usually did to the other four firemen with him.  
"So the Porsche took a dive, too?" Kelly wanted to know. "Oh man. If they went as deep as we did, they're goners for sure. I didn't see any tire iron in the back of Mr. Johnson's car when we were loading it earlier."

The unwelcome speculation grated on Johnny. "Chet. Thank you for bringing up such an unpleasant thought.  
My partner was in that car."

Kelly immediately amended. "Oh, but I have every faith in the world that DeSoto bailed all of them out. He's a big guy, Johnny. One of the biggest. I don't see a flimsy car window standing in the way of--"

Marco Lopez interrupted him. "I keep thinking about the baby."

That made Chet and the others go silent.

Cap filled the pause with a quiet bit of wisdom. "Let's just cross that bridge when we come to it.."

"We did.." Chet said furlatively. He wasn't trying to be funny. "And look where it got us? Roy's missing along with Nicola, Mary, Nate, Aaron and the baby. I just hate to think of what might've happened to all of them, not just little Darren."

Hank studied the road and just listened to the sound of all their soggy footfalls as their water logged shoes paced the pavement as they walked. "Ok, let's talk about something positive, all right? What's something that we've never talked about before, huh?"

"Gee, I don't know, Cap." Gage said quietly, trying to smile for everyone's benefit. "Being together so long, there really isn't anything we haven't covered."

"Yeah, Johnny's right." Mike Stoker said.

"Ditto." nodded Marco.

Hank was firm and insistent and he sighed.  
"We've got at least ten minutes walking until we get to where we lost the others. And I'd do anything to pass the time more quickly. Don't you? Come on, gang. We can think of something new. I know.. why don't we talk about....."

---------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: Family in a flashflood with plastic wrapped baby.

Photo: Man and boy in a flooded truck.

Photo: Girl doing CPR on a man.

Photo: A rattler biting in a strike.

Photo: The gang laughing.

*  
Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 10:25:59 +0100 (BST) From: "Katherine Bird" .uk Subject: Fish Out of Water..

"..the fact that we're gonna find Roy before dawn.." said Chet with sudden finality and conviction.

Hank blinked, actually pausing in his tracks.  
"Oh, ..uh, yeah. That's a positive statement."

"And it's new." Marco agreed.

Johnny Gage rubbed his nose. "Scared me for a minute, Chet. For a second there, I thought we were going to have to fess up to each other about how we all became firemen."  
and he grinned a cock eyed grin.

"Now why would I do a dumb thing like that Johnny? Knowing why you do what you do for a living is sort of personal, isn't it?  
I'd never violate that sacred trust." Kelly nodded solemnly.

Gage stopped Chet with a finger. "Now wait a minute. You mean all those years of..of..of baiting me with practical jokes as the Phantom and all that other stuff weren't abuses of the trust between friends?" he emphasized throwing fingers back and forth from himself to Chet in a gesture to clarify his point.

Kelly mulled it over, wiping mud off an elbow.  
"No.." he said mildly. "Come on, the big guy's waiting." he said and he led the way ahead of the gang along the road leading back the way they had come. "Every second we delay is a second longer not knowing what's happened to him. Get the lead out!" he boomed over the thunder sizzling around them and he swept an arm forward to rally the rest of them.

"This coming from a man who was a snivelling nervous wreck half an hour ago." Mike marvelled.

"That's because forty feet of muddy river water isn't flowing over his head right at the particular moment."  
Gage said wryly to Cap, shrugging.

Johnny began to whistle as he nonchalantly followed after Kelly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Doctor Frick was satisfied with Nate Johnson's progress out of near death. He heard only residual rales in the man's chest. "Most of the water's already absorbed Blaine. I won't need albuterol."

"How's his heart? Wasn't he down a long time?"  
Bittner wanted to know.

"We won't know that until we run his lab tests at the hospital when we get there. Now.. let's see how Nicola's doing..." he said, reaching to do a head to toe survey on her.

"Ho! Doc! I'm all right." shouted DeSoto, jumping out of a tan police car. He was wearing dry clothes, jeans and a gray button down shirt. "I got a ride back from the highway patrolman coming to barricade off the bridge causeway. Only I told him the causeway was already gone." Roy grinned. Then his smile immediately fell away when he saw Nate intubated and Nicola deeply unconscious. "What's their story?"  
he said snatching up a pen light to check out Sommers when the Doc pointed to her first.

"Nate was nearly drown. Nicola found him in full arrest and kept him going until Blaine and I arrived with the defibrillator. Now, she's just collapsed after getting sick."

"Not surprising with that around.." Roy said,  
throwing a head toss towards the treatment plant. "Gotta love that country air.." he quipped.  
"Speaking of a hospital. The ambulance crew following us encountered Mary and Darren and Aaron. They're already on their way into town. They'll be back for all of us.."

"That's a relief. I haven't checked Nicola over yet beyond the primary." Frick told him. "Could you finish up?"

"Sure will." Roy said, grabbing shears out of a bag.

The CHiP was speaking to Blaine a short distance away about the ETA of the two ambulances Roy had promised them.

"Can I help?" said another voice. It was Johnny.  
"My are you a sight for sore eyes." Gage sighed in relief when he got close enough to see who clustered on the beach. He crouched right away and began to cut away Nicola's sleeves and pants legs next to Roy.

"Two are faster." Roy smiled. "Her story's a mystery.  
Doc here says she was lively enough to perform some CPR on Nate over there but then blacked out soon afterwards. Doc said that she became extremely nauseated fairly quickly." he told Gage.

"Not the air?" he said wrinkling his dirty nose.

"Nope. It's something else.." Frick said. "Bad smells don't make people faint."

"But bad sights do." Cap said as the rest of them caught up with Johnny from the road.

Kelly cleared his throat nervously. "Aww, Cap. Do you have to tell him?"

"Fraid I do, Chet. Syncope's nothing to shake a stick at,  
especially when one was under water doing it." Hank said.

"Chet fainted?" Roy frowned.

"Yeah." Marco said. "For a whole six or seven minutes.  
We had to swim him ashore."

"Chet, is your chest clear? How's your head?" DeSoto asked rapidly.

"Yes and fine. Concentrate on Nicola and Nate buddy boy.  
I'm far from being a casualty." Kelly said no nonsense,  
setting some O2 over Sommers face from the doctor's satchel.

"Hang on a minute Chet, I have to check something."  
DeSoto said. He crouched over Nicola and peeled back her lips to find cyanosis and a growing ecchymosis building along her gums inside of her mouth.

Johnny saw it, too, holding the young woman's mask.  
"A toxic exposure of some kind?"

"Who knows in that water.." Marco said.

"The water treatment plant's perfectly fine, Marco, or it wouldn't still be in operation." Chet told him. "Gotta be something else."

"Bingo.. " said Johnny. "Doc, take a look at this."  
and he shivered. "Thought I smelled one on her."

"Smelled what Gage?" Mike Stoker asked, kneeling by Nate's head to monitor him.

"Snake. Looks like a bite on her left hand. And it's bleeding freely."

"Into a vein.." Frick said, taking a look. "Most likely a rattler. We've got a ton in the river bottoms. The flood must've washed one out from under the bank hollows."

Frick noticed Johnny's complexion. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I...just have a bad history with snakes.  
That's all. It was a rattler that nearly kept me from reaching my twenty eighth birthday."

Frick nodded. "Constricting band. And lower her arm below her heart. Start an I.V. Ringers on her and run it wide open. Her vital signs are shocky and her rate's well into the AV tach range."

Roy said. "Got it here. Want me to lance this and apply suction?" he said, indicating the snake bite on the woman's hand.

"Nah, it's too late at this stage of the game. She was exerting herself and anything the venom's gonna do, it's already well on the way to doing it." Frick sighed.  
"I'll be sure to get ten to twenty vials of antivenin set once we get into the ER."

"What kinds of tests do you want?" Johnny said holding Nicola's head back so her harsh breathing came more easily. "I can tell them once we get there to free you up."

"Oh, the same as what your city docs usually order. A CBC, PT, a PTT, electrolytes, glucose, and a renal function study series." he said.

"Don't forget to marking my skin at the leading edge of the bite with a pen every 15 to 30 to find coagulopathy and progressing edema.." mumbled the woozy girl on the ground.

Gage smiled. "Welcome back." he said releasing her head.  
"Now don't make me have to tell you to keep still or to keep this oxygen on your face." He held her down when she remembered Mr. Johnson.

"Nate?!" Nicola shouted, her memory returning.

"Nate's fine. He's got a pulse and he's breathing on his own."

Nicola fixed Roy and Johnny with a stare. "Now why do I have to keep from moving? I didn't hurt myself."

"No, but a certain scaley one did Ms. Sommers. A snake got your hand."

Nicola let her head clunk back onto the ground. "Oh, so that's what it was.. a diamondback."

"You certain of that?" Dr. Frick said, drawing a red top from Nicola's arm when he started to hear the sound of sirens growing in the distance.

"I'm more than sure. I heard the d*mned rattling before a tree limb landed on my head." she said empathetically.  
Then she winced when Roy applied a tourniquet to her forearm above the bite. "How's Mary and Darren?"

"Safe. Most likely in a warm hospital bed as we speak."  
Blaine said, turning from the CHiP officer he had been speaking to about everyone's adventure in the flood.

"Boy that sounds good." Sommers sighed, falling asleep. "I think I'll doze and make it happen faster."

"Roll over on your side, Nicola. In case you get an upset stomach again." Frick told her.

Nicola was beyond hearing already, so Gage and Roy gently turned her underneath the blankets that the highway patrol officer had given them.

"She goes first. Nate's stable." Frick told the paramedics.

Johnny and Roy nodded.

-  
It was four days later and it was nearly the end of the gang's luckless vacation week.

"Boys, " said Blaine over chili at Rosie's. "Let me make it up to you. There ain't no finer fishing guide here than Ms Sommers." he professed.

Nicola cradled her arm in its sling, blushing."Well, what else have I got to do but fish in the summer time. It's not like I'm busy in school or anything then." she admitted.  
"I'd be happy to take you out on the lake. I know where all the holes are. Like lake trout?" she said leaning into Cap.

Hank swallowed dryly. "Uh, maybe that's a question for my men, Ms. Sommers. They're the ones who think they can eat em.."

Nicola redirected her eyes at the gang.

"Oh, I like them just fine, maam." said Marco.  
"Sure do.." said Chet.  
"When I can catch em.'' Johnny chuckled honestly.  
"Only when my wife fixes em up." Roy admitted.  
"Or when I do..." Stoker followed up on the cooking comment.

"How do you boys prepare them?" asked Doctor Frick.  
"You haven't lived until you've slathered them in Pabst batter and have them deep fried on a griddle over a camp fire. Maybe we can do that tonight at the campsite."

"Sure.. It'll take at least until morning for the rental car company to run another truck out to us to haul the camper back to L.A. on Saturday." Hank accepted for his men.

"Great. It can be a beach party."

"Just as long as I don't have to get wet or anything like that to attend." Kelly goggled distastefully.

"Not unless you want to." Nicola soothed.

"Or unless the boat tips over again, dumping us in like it did last time." complained Lopez.

"You guys tipped over that night?" Gage said,  
smiling like a hawk over a rabbit.

"Yeah, off the point. Guess we must have been out of eye range." Marco detailed.

"Kelly, no wonder you were so cagey when you guys raced up the beach to help us with Stoker's outhouse fire.  
You had just had another water scare. Explains why you overreacted today in the river."

"Not very d*mned funny Gage." Chet said with only half heat. "Ask anyone here. I didn't overreact at all."

"Oh yeah? Then why were you the only one who checked out getting free of my rover?" Johnny challenged.

"I.......I... had trouble breathing, that's all. Stoker wailed out that window faster than I could get ready for it."  
Chet said defensively.

"You were breathing fine when we all hauled you up to the top.." Stoker chipped in. "You didn't sound like any dypsnea case I've ever heard. He had smooth pipes, Gage. Real smooth. The whole time."

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Stoker. I'll remember that the next time you draw chrome detail before a monthly inspection." Chet gestured pointedly.

Soon, the gang was debating semantics with each other at the top of their lungs, gleefully and deadly passionate, while a contented Hank watched on.

Dr. Frick reached over and shook Cap and Roy's hand.  
"Looks like you've been thoroughly initiated by Santa Rosa County now. You've been baptized in our waters."

"Some more than others.." quipped Nicola, making a face as she remembered the Pig's Eye plant.

"Well, be that as it may. I'm sure glad we stopped by." Hank admitted. "You were just what these city fireboys ordered."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo : Woman fainted with two above her.

Photo: A fat brook trout.

Photo: Roy, Blaine and Johnny eating chili.

Photo: A fisherman landing a fish in a net.

Photo: A row of resort cabins.

Photo: Roy in a cowboy hat.

Photo: Nicola Sommers with a sheepish look.

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